My Rival, My Friend, My Brother
by shadow halfbreed
Summary: Jack is unusually weary and aggressive, and even his disagreements with Bunnymund have esculated from arguments to full fist fights. Can the guardian of hope look past his own ego to see the cause of his rivals behaviour? And when he finds the problem, will Jack let him help?...I'm not very good at summaries, but the story is better :P
1. Anger Unjustified

_**My Rival, My Friend, My Brother**_

_Yaaayyy! My very first Rise of the Guardians fanfic! :D_

_This took a bit longer than I thought to write, but where it was originally planned as a one shot, it just kept getting longer and longer, and now is going to be about three chapters ...oh well, it'll be my first three-shot! XD_

_I actually have the rest of the draft story written out, and I'm hoping it won't take me too long to edit the other chapters._

_Despite great temptation and abuse from the fangirl in me ;D...this isn't really a yaoi fanfic...rather, a friendship/family one. (darn! XD)_

_Fair warning, whilst I've tried to keep the characters as in character as possible, I've never had to try and write with an accent before, so apologies if North and Bunny don't sound right...I tried! XD..._

_Anyway, hope you enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of it's characters, only this fanfiction._

* * *

"FROST!"

The roar echoed around the entire workshop, leaving all present aware of what was coming, but unable to brace for it.

A yelp escaped Tooth as a freezing gust struck her from behind. She fluttered around just in time to see ice breeze over the floors and walls, whilst a large, dark figure moving swiftly behind its creator.

Yetis lumbered around and elves scattered as the racing figures weaved around them without pause.

"Chill out cotton tail, I said it was an accident!" Jack yelled as he twisted around in the air.

He glared at his at his chaser, and landed on the railing of the spiral stair case running down the centre of the workshop.

"Yeah, tell me another ya frosty brat!" Bunnymund yelled as he climbed onto the railing around the work level he was on.

Without a second thought, he sprang at the staircase, almost squashing Jack, had the boy not been quick enough to move.

Jack almost snarled as he swiped out with his staff, sending a burst of ice straight at Bunny. The guardian of hope dodged it, and ran after the boy as he flew down the stair case.

Glaring over his shoulder, Jack tapped the railing in front of himself with his staff, watching as ice smoothly formed over it. He slid down the ice easily, whilst behind him, Bunny slipped over as the frost spread to the actual stairs themselves. Growling, he sprang back from the stairs to the railing around the workshop, then barely getting a grip, he jumped down to a lower level of the stairs, just as Jack came sliding around.

"OOF!"

The two tumbled over each other despite the small width of the stairs, and exchanged furious looks. Jack yanked his arm free and knocked Aster over the head with his staff, stunning the pooka just long enough to pull himself free and fly up into the air.

Still not prepared to let him get away, Bunnymund quickly recovered, and jumped through the air again.

Jack whipped around, ready to send an icy blast his way, whilst Aster in return threw an egg bomb.

The result was a loud blast, followed by a shower of ice and bright paint.

The scuffling guardians were both knocked back, Jack into the stair case, Bunny against the workshop railing.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?"

The short but eruptive fuss was halted as the North Pole's head honcho stormed in in all his intimidating glory. He took one look around his workshop, and his rosy cheeks turned a not so jolly shade of red.

"Jack! Bunny! Explain!"

"The little sniffle froze up my warren again, and this time it was the tunnels!" Bunny growled as he climbed back over the railing, his fur glimmering with melted ice flakes.

"Yeah, an AC-CI-DENT! Get it through your head, eggs for brains!" Jack yelled back furiously, half his face and hoodie brightened by orange paint.

"I bought that trash the first time Frost, this is the third time! You really expect me to believe that again?"

Jack suddenly snorted.

"Well the first two tunnels WERE accidents, the last one was for yelling at me!"

"Jack!" Tooth half scolded, her heart not fully in it since she was shocked by the boy's anger.

"It's fine, it's still no winter wonderland or anything," Jack grumbled.

"Jack! Come down here now!" North ordered.

"No way, I'm not getting anywhere near the crazy rabbit!" Jack flew up to where the globe sat at the top of the stairs.

North sighed heavily, shaking his head.

"Sandy?"

Jack didn't have time to react as a gold whip shot out from behind North, and snared around his ankle. He was pulled down to the work area and groaned loudly as he sat up from the rough landing. A frown was the only response he was able to give the guilty looking sandman as he drifted into view, before a large hand pulled him to his feet.

"This fighting has been going long enough. You two must sort out problems!" North growled in controlled anger.

"I didn't have any problems before the brat showed up in my warren, even though I banned him after he froze the egg totems the last time!"

"And this time around I came to apologise! Shouldn't have wasted my time," Jack glared right back at Bunny, not worried about his proximity to the angry pooka despite his earlier words.

The two looked far from ready to finish this, but exhaustion from days of listening to the quarrelling had worn thin North's patience.

Baby Tooth gave a shrill sound as the Guardian of wonder grabbed the back of their heads, and slammed them against each other.

"I give permission to spend time here, even though Christmas is next month, and all you two do, is fight? Just look at the pole!"

Dazed from the blow, the duo just stumbled apart, anger draining slightly.

They both knew the stress the entire team of the North Pole went through this close to Christmas. Despite their friendship, the guardians rarely bothered each other without reason. However, after the fight against Pitch Black back at Easter, they'd made more of an effort to spend time together where they could. North had opened up the pole to them, so they could come and go as they pleased.

As they took in the mess they'd created, Bunny and Jack realised they'd been abusing this privilege. Their arguments lately had never been intentionally begun, but both were far too stubborn to back down once started, and despite wherever a fight began, it somehow always ended at the pole.

"Sorry," Jack finally sighed, his gaze barely flickering to North before it returned to the ground.

"Likewise," Bunny apologised, crossing his arms as he looked away.

North looked between the two in frustration. He gave them a moment in hopes they'd apologise to each other as well, but not to his surprise, they refused to even hint at looking at one another.

Disagreements between them were common even though they no longer hated each other, but this was getting beyond ridiculous.

His eyes lingered upon the younger guardian almost curiously. Aggression from Bunny was fairly normal, but Jack usually dressed his anger in sarcasm and a cocky attitude. Blunt rage was uncommon from him.

It was then North noticed the dark rings marking the usually snow pale skin. His eyes were an aching red, whilst frustrated tears lingered upon the edges…

…Jack was definitely NOT the type to cry from frustration.

The pair would not get off lightly for causing more work for the North Pole team, but now was not the time for causing more hostility.

"This will be sorted out later," He spoke with no option for disagreement, "For now, Bunny, return to warren."

"Happy to Mate," The guardian grumbled, walking only a short distance before he opened one of his tunnels and dropped through.

A couple of elves looked to the flower that was left behind as North turned to the remaining trouble maker.

"Jack…"

"Yeah yeah, I'll head home to…"

"No. You will remain."

A puzzled expression greeted him. In a way, the boy almost looked insulted that he'd just been told he couldn't go home…almost…

"How hard have you been working?" North spoke now calmer, but still firm.

Christmas was basically around the corner, but the snow season had also begun, and whilst he hadn't spoken of it, the guardians were well aware of how hard Jack had been working to make the arriving snow powerful but not over bearing. He didn't act it, but they could see he was taking the duty of being a guardian very seriously.

"Working? Tsk, creating and re directing a couple of snow storms is hardly work," The playful smirk returned as the boy scratched the back of his head.

North didn't miss the heavy sigh he tried to conceal by turning his back.

"But Jack, when was the last time you rested?" Tooth asked, seeing what North did.

Guardians could go a lot longer without rest than mortals, but even they needed time to recover.

"Don't worry about me; I get rest when I need it."

"Try looking at me and say that," North challenged lightly when the winter spirit kept his back to them.

He expected the guardian of fun to get a little defensive, but not as much as he did.

"I said I'm fine!" Jack barked, swinging around to face them.

He was as taken back by his outburst as they were. He shrunk back, his gaze darting everywhere but at another face. He looked like he still wanted to argue his point, but knew he was already toeing the line.

Worried the situation would spring out of hand, Sandy nudged North, juggling a ball of his sleep sand as he indicated to Jack.

"Oh no, don't even try it sandman." Jack warned, raising his staff.

He didn't do so in means of a threat, but he wouldn't take kindly to being forced to sleep…so to speak…

"No Sandy," North waved him off gently, raising a playful eyebrow at Jack, "Jack says he is ok, then he is ok."

Jack stood tall, though didn't dare speak, not sure what the Christmas guardian was up to.

"Very well Jack, you say you don't need rest? Then I have perfect job for you."

"Defrost everything I froze?" Jack dared to reply, his playful sarcasm not willing to back down.

But North only smirked behind his mass of white beard.

"Ha! You wish!"

* * *

'_Don't let the cotton tail walk in…don't let the cotton tail walk in…'_

Bunnymund would've had a field day if he could've seen his rival right now.

"What? So the reindeer that pull the sleigh and everything aren't considered a bit more important than this?"

The reindeer's barn house was in a state that didn't in anyway glorify the brilliant beasts that lived there.

At this time of year, any yeti who could be spared was pulled away to help with last minute presents and tasks, whilst jobs like cleaning the pens were taken care of only when time presented itself. Sure it showed signs of quick spruces here and there, and he was certain in its best state it would actually be quite grand. But right now, it looked like it hadn't received a descent clean in weeks.

"Guardian of fun cleaning out a dirty stable…huh, now what seems odd in this picture?"

His own sarcasm served little to entertain him, but he continued on with the boring task, knowing full well he'd earned it. Besides, it still beat cleaning the main hall, where all the workers looked like they might throttle him for the mess he'd helped make.

It took forever, but he was certain to do it properly; he really didn't want to hear about it from North later if he cut corners.

He almost grinned when he remembered North opening the barn doors earlier, and how he'd almost literally been knocked off his feet by the stench. It had been anything but funny then, but now without the terrible smell, he could've laughed at himself…

…except that the work however, had left him feeling drained. He'd happily keep arguing that he was ok, but his eyes felt as heavy as they looked. A head ache was pounding through his skull, demanding that he just stop.

"Ok ok…fine…" He muttered, his face scrunching up as his head gave a particularly painful thump.

Head in one hand, he used his spare to feel for the side of the sleigh, which sat in the middle of the barn. He carefully pulled himself up over the edge, and laid back against the step-like seats.

'_Just take a break for a while, don't fall asleep, please don't fall asleep…'_

But his own encouragement was in vain, as his eye lids sunk shut, his body relaxing into the awkward but suddenly comfortable resting place.

* * *

"Jack, Jack…wake up!"

He could hear and feel that his breathing was rather rapid, and his body felt stiff to the point he feared the pain that would surely come with moving.

Groaning loudly, he turned his head and slowly blinked his eyes open. A short gasp left him as he found a fierce face staring down at him, but he quickly recognised who it was.

"Jack…" North repeated, this time with a sigh of relief, "What are you doing in here?"

Wincing as his body objected, Jack raised up just enough to look around. He recognised the inside of the sleigh, although he could barely remember getting in.

"Ah…ah! The Barn!"

His body almost screamed at him as he sat up quickly, remembering why he was even in the barn in the first place.

"Jack," North grabbed his shoulder, "Barn is fine, But you on the other hand…"

"What? I'm fine," Jack shrugged him off, turning to climb out the other side.

"No Jack," North spoke firmly, holding the boy tight until he looked back around, "You were restless before I came in, and clearly you have not been sleeping well prior to now…"

The blue eyed boy just shook his head and glanced away, but North wasn't going to let him take his point lightly.

"Look at eyes! So red and puffy…not once, but three times, you accidently freeze parts of the warren…and you fight with Bunny to the point of actually trying to hurt each other! You're supposed to be friends."

"You always called us rivals," Jack muttered dully.

"_Friendly _rivals," North quickly corrected, "Rivals who may sometimes _feel_ like hitting one another, but would never do it for real because they value their friendship more than their egos. Your attitude lately has been unacceptable, but even more so, it has not been like you. This lack of sleep is disrupting everything else. Jack, what is cause of this?"

The younger guardian just shrugged, but again North wouldn't accept that response.

Jack shrunk back as the guardian forced him around.

"…have you been having nightmares?"

"What! No, I haven't," Jack tried to pull away.

"Jack…"

"I'm serious!" Jack yelled.

He then realised how it must have looked from his friend's point of view. It wasn't as if the chance of nightmares behind it hadn't crossed his mind before, even if he'd quickly dismissed the thought.

He forced himself to stop and think about it, but just as his breathing began to slow, he shook his head.

"I haven't…I can't remember. I know that dreams…bad or good… fade pretty quickly once you wake up, but I'd still know if I'd been having them…"

He raised his gaze to meet the older guardians, and the head of the North Pole could see the pleading in his eyes.

North sighed heavily, and allowed Jack to stand.

"Very well, but nightmare or not, you have still not been resting,"

"North…"

"No Questions! You and Bunny may not always meet eye to eye, but Jack, do you really want to keep fighting the way you have been?"

The young guardian felt himself take a shaky breath. Yes he and Bunny still acted like rivals, and sometimes disagreements turned to full arguments. But he was too aware of his behaviour lately, and it wasn't fair to ANYONE else.

North watched the boy's shoulders slump in a way that meant he was swallowing his pride.

"Ok…" Came the defeated whisper.

North gave a soft smile and patted him lightly on the back…just firm enough to make him nearly stumble over the side of the sleigh.

* * *

The warren was always so tranquil. Soft light showered over the paint

rivers and flowers, whilst the giant egg totems made a gentle pounding as

they lumbered along.

Bunnymund watched with an affectionate smile as small clusters of eggs

toddled along through the grass. Easter was still months away, but there

were always a few eggs wandering around no matter what time of year it was.

The guardian of Easter may have been a proud, stubborn and tough spirit,

but this serene place never ceased to calm him. It had only taken minutes

upon his return to the warren for his rage to dissipate.

That was hours ago now, in fact he had no idea just how long he'd been

here…most of the day at least…

He sighed and glanced up to the tunnels, casually glancing to the symbols

of the corresponding countries over each one, even though he didn't need

them to know; it had been a long time since he did.

His frown returned a bit at seeing three of them still lined with ice. The

warm air was slowly melting it away of course, but frost from the guardian

of fun…though his pride hated to admit it…couldn't be underestimated.

Grumbling, he hopped down to the tunnel worst affected…the one Jack had

admitted to freezing intentionally…and ran his paw over the ice; A thin

layer for sure, but surprisingly sturdy. It would take forever to get rid

of the whole lot; the light of the warren could only reach a few metres in

after all.

He'd already tried boomerangs, but they were a bit awkward in the confined space, and as brilliantly made as the tunnels were, he couldn't risk them caving in by using egg bombs.

"Bloody larrikin," He grumbled, remembering when he'd seen Jack here earlier.

* * *

_It was still early as Bunnymund rested in the shade of one of his favourite_

_spots of the warren. The air had a pleasantly cool ting today that he didn't consider until his ears perked up at a familiar sound, followed by what he could've sworn was quiet cursing._

"_Oh that better not be…" Bunnymund growled under his breath._

_He took off fast, and quickly found the source of the noise._

_Jack Frost was crouching on the ground near the egg tunnels. His back was_

_turned as he shook his head, and stumbled to his feet._

"_Frost!" Bunny roared, his ears lowered furiously._

_Jack twisted around quickly, causing himself to stumble sideways again._

_Bunnymund might have taken more notice of the winter spirits unusually_

_clumsy movement, if he wasn't so focused on the ice sheets covering two of_

_the tunnel entrances._

"_Wait, Bunny, this isn't…I didn't mean…" Jack stuttered, raising his hands_

_defensively._

_He was forced to duck as both of the Easter spirits boomerangs were sent flying at the tunnels. They easily smashed through the thin coverings, though Aster only growled more to see the inside walls layered as well._

_Jack looked nervously to him, like a child caught in the act._

_So he should really, a large cliff face and a couple of egg totems were still half frozen from his previous visits._

"_I thought I told you to stay away from here!"_

"_I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. I just came here to…" Jack started, shoving his hand into the pocket on the front of his hoodie._

"_To cause me more trouble, that's what! Look mate, just because it's not Easter, doesn't mean I'm not busy."_

_This time Jack frowned._

"_I said it was an accident, will you just listen to me?"_

"_I'm over your excuses Frost, I can believe this being an accident once or twice, but not this time!"_

_Jack's expression showed anger growing by every moment, but before it came, he stepped back and looked down, sighing heavily. However, his anger far from disappeared…_

…_no, as he looked back up, his eyes hardened in a way that normally only happened when someone struck one of his most sensitive nerves._

"_Fine…" He whispered, his hand slipping carelessly from his pocket, "…believe what you want…"_

_His hand shifted over his staff almost casually, until he lifted it and slammed it back down._

_A stream of ice shot along the ground directly at the tunnel to Africa; one of the ones that remained untouched._

"_What're you doing!?" Bunny shouted in shock as the entrance froze over, clearly much thicker than any of the others._

_He turned as he heard something smash. Jack glared right back at him as next to him swirled one of the portals created by North's snow globes._

_Well that explained how he'd even been getting here…_

_Holding the front of his jacket, Jack jumped backwards through the portal, which closed after him._

"_Oh no ya ratbag…don't think I don't know exactly where you're heading…" Bunny growled, and tapped his foot on the ground, opening a new tunnel._

* * *

That already seemed ages ago.

Aster gave a grumble. He knew he should've given Jack the chance to explain; if the trouble maker had really meant it, it would've been mischief, not panic that had adorned his face.

The Easter spirit shook his head, trying to shake the thought as he turned, but wasn't able to as something caught his eye.

After so many centuries of being a guardian, he could easily tell the difference between eggs he himself had hand painted , those decorated by the flowers and rivers, and those that didn't belong to either option.

He bounded over to the small group of eggs huddled in the grass beneath a small hill. Each one was a mix of blue and white, with strange markings around them, rather unlike the ones he made.

He picked one up, looking over it in confusion. It was definitely amateurish against his own work, but still he liked it as much as any of the eggs.

The markings were strange though, he had to look over the rest of them before he found one with a clear enough picture.

It was a snowflake.

He remembered then, the second time Jack had come around, he'd asked if he could try his hand at decorating the eggs.

Still a fair way from Easter, Bunnymund had agreed; if nothing else it sounded like a good way to keep the rascal out of trouble.

Now that he remembered the expression the boy had worn, and the honesty in his voice when he'd asked, Bunny had to wonder if that had been Jacks intention all along.

The pooka grumbled heavily, his ears flopping around his head. He'd still ended up with frozen egg totems, and in his anger he'd banned Jack from the warren…well, once he'd chased him around the place. He'd eventually caught the agile spirit with one of his tunnels when the boy dared to try and land, and the chase had continued all the way to the north pole.

Banning him was one thing, but Aster knew he wasn't reacting any better than Jack had when he'd frozen the pookas tail the other day after they'd been separated from a tussle by a couple of yetis.

Hurt his pride as it might, Aster knew he was supposed to be the more mature of the two, and thus a role model for Jack…whether or not the boy would actually follow anyone's example.

"I'm never going to hear the end of this…" He grumbled, putting the egg down, and tapping the ground lightly.

* * *

The north pole work shop was hectic, but the rushed atmosphere was a familiar rhythm to the workers. They knew how things ran, and so despite the chaos, this was much more relaxing than when something out of the ordinary happened.

Speaking of which…

A Yeti gave a surprised yell as both it and an elf suddenly fell through the floor.

"Sorry mate," Bunny apologised to the yeti as he hopped out into view, carrying the elf in his paw.

As the yeti groaned and crawled out of the pit, sandy floated down from the level above to see what the commotion was.

"G'day Sandy," Bunny greeted, dropping the elf, "The frostbite still hanging around?"

Sandy looked understandably worried by the request, but none the less, he pointed upstairs whilst little z's floated above his head, his finger resting against his lips.

"Sleeping upstairs? Heh, not for long," Bunny replied, and turned to walk off.

Sandy drifted in front of him, waving his arms whilst an image of North appeared above him.

"Don't worry about the big man, I didn't come here to start world war three," Bunny shrugged him off and walked passed, "I'm just gonna talk to the larrikin for a moment…and I do mean _talk_," He added when he heard the anxious chime behind him.

Sandy rolled his eyes and gave up. He'd give it ten minutes before another commotion rocked the work shop.

* * *

"Alright, now where would that troublemaker be tucked away?" Bunny muttered as he scanned the doors along the hallway.

The north pole was a large place, easy to get lost around if one wasn't familiar with the layout.

Thankfully, Bunny knew the small section used as guest quarters. It was generally only used when one of the guardians needed to stay for some reason, and though he hadn't actually done so himself…no thanks to the chilly weather…it was still a peaceful area to retreat to.

He flinched and raised his foot when something cold nipped at it. Looking closely, he could see frost trickling out from the crack under the door next to him.

"Bingo."

He reached for the door handle, when he stiffened.

His ears and nose twitched in warning. He could faintly hear Jacks voice through the thick wood, but not enough to catch one coherent word, until…

"Bu…Bunny?...Bunny…"

'_Huh, the troublemaker must've heard me.'_

"Yeah, it's me frostbite," He answered bluntly, walking in.

He was met by sharp, gold eyes, before a cloud of darkness flew straight over him, knocking the pooka off his feet. He swiped out at the fog, and found his hand came back feeling…gritty…

"It can't be…"

He peered through the dark cloud as he realised his opponent hadn't left the room. The strange creature didn't have a definite shape, but there was no question what it was.

"Bloody nightmare, what the heck are you doing here?" He growled in shock, trying to push away the separate nightmare sand.

The main nightmare was hovering above a small bed, where Jack was sleeping, though it was anything but peacefully. Frost had spread from the restless boy all over the bed, walls and floor.

He shifted and whimpered as the creature lowered its face slowly over his.

"So You're the reason he's been more of a pest than usual," Bunnymund yelled as he finally managed to jump to his feet.

The dark creature glared around to him as he drew his boomerang. Jack gripped the blanket and gave a shaky gasp as the weapon was thrown at his attacker.

The separate bit of sand quickly shot forward to act as a shield, but the main nightmare still got the message that it was time to go.

Whilst Aster was busy with the other cloud, it turned its attention back to Jack, the boy arching up slightly at whatever was plaguing his dreams. It opened its mouth, a hollow sort of sound resonating from its throat as it drew a deep breath.

"Jack!" Aster watched in horror as Jack's face screwed up.

The bad dream must've peaked at that moment, because Jack gave a loud cry, whilst from his forehead rose a tiny orb of what appeared to be dark energy.

It swirled around in a never fully fixed form, before the nightmare closed its mouth around the energy. A dark shimmer trailed over the length of its body, before it suddenly grew, and its form finally took on that of a horse; still not as solid as the old ones, but enough to see what it was meant to be.

It turned and dashed out the window, and after making sure Bunnymund couldn't follow quickly enough, the cloud took after it.

"Damn it!" He cursed, bounding over to the window.

He raised his boomerang, but forced himself to stop, knowing he couldn't follow the creature from here.

"Ugh."

He whipped around fast. Jack was moving again. His breathing was still rapid, whilst a cold sweat was forming on the boy's chilly skin, frosting up almost instantly.

"Frostbite? Can you hear me? Open your eyes now!"

Jack twitched, but it took a while for his eyes to peek open. His breathing began to steady as he finally turned towards the voice.

"B…Bunny? What are you…?"

"You alright mate? You had a bloody nightmare attacking ya," Bunny explained, and raised his fist in which he held a pile of the nightmare sand.

Jack flinched away, raising a hand like a shield. Aster could only look confused by the reaction. Fear was evident in the blue eyes for a moment, before the boy just looked confused and lowered his arm.

"Nightmare…tsk…why are both you and North talking about nightmares?" He stood up, shaking a bit as he searched for his staff.

"Because you just had one eyeing ya like a hungry croc. Whatever it made you see had you fidgeting like you were in pain."

"Then why don't I remember it?" Jack asked seriously, holding his staff over his shoulder.

"You mean you don't?"

"No, I don't," Jack turned to face him, "I fell asleep in the sleigh before, and North said the same thing, except he didn't claim to see some nightmare."

"I'm not claiming, I know what I saw. I fought the bloody thing, just look," Bunny held his paw out.

The sand was clear to see, but it was almost as if Jack didn't see it as he shoved Bunny's paw away.

"Just leave me alone…"

"What?"

Jack was leaning heavily on his staff suddenly, like that one rejection had zapped whatever strength he had. Still, he managed another furious glare, and this time, even Aster himself was shocked by it.

"I said leave me alone! I'll admit that North was right about me being tired, but it doesn't exactly help having a rabbit chew you out over nothing!"

"Hang on, I had every right to defend my warren. As far as I could tell, you were just up to your usual trouble. How was I supposed to know some nightmare was the cause of this?"

"You tell me not to avoid the blame, so stop doing it yourself! The nightmares went down with Pitch…"

"Yeah, so I thought as well. I'm literally holding the evidence right here mate, I'd have actually thought you of all people would've taken this a bit more seriously,"

"Ha, _you're _putting me and 'serious' in the same sentence? Maybe you should be the one laying down…"

"Fine. Tell me how I'm supposed to make you believe me about this?"

"Start by telling me just why _I _should believe anything _you _say."

This time the boy's anger actually felt like a sharp jab. Bunny stared into the angry gaze, for a moment wondering if it was really Jack he was talking to.

However, his patience was the shortest of any of the guardians, and having already swallowed his own pride just to come back here, that small amount of patience had already been stretched.

"Fine…FINE! Do as you want brat, just don't expect me to come save your scrawny hide the next time you get attacked in your sleep!"

"I don't recall ever asking you to!"

Jack stormed across to the window.

"You run now, you'll have North on your case,"

"Why? You gonna tatter tale…cotton tail?"

Jack slammed the end of his staff on the ground. Ice shot towards Bunnymund, and covered his feet. The Easter spirit swayed, trying to balance as he was frozen to the ground.

Where Jack would've normally laughed at his rival, he only gave an annoyed 'humph' sound, before leaping out the window. He free fell for a few seconds, before the wind obediently swept him up, and carried him away.

Bunny struggled against the ice until it finally gave out. It had only been thick enough to hold him for a short while. Gasping a few times, he tried to ignore the cold biting his feet as he hopped over to the window. He couldn't see the fifth guardian anywhere; he thought he caught a glimmer of blue rising above the mist, but that was about the best he could get from the white landscape.

"Bloody dill's gonna just get himself in trouble again," He grumbled, and turned away, "Let 'im sort out his own mistakes then."

He stopped and glanced down lazily as something shifted beneath his feet. Black sand clung to his fur weakly, until he shook it off.

The older guardian looked to that which he still held in his paw. He growled quietly and brushed it away, setting his attention back to the doorway.

However, his feet didn't move, and eventually, his ears lowered as he glanced over his shoulder to the window.

The fear he recalled on Jacks face when the boy was asleep…the fear he wasn't even aware of…

Bunny's ears shot up then. The nightmare…that dark orb it had sucked free of the boy before it escaped…

"Strewth…could that be it…? But that's insane…"

His ear twitched and he glanced sharply to the door. Voices were drawing closer from down the hallway.

"No rest! No rest for anyone!" North boomed furiously, "Why is peace so much to ask for!?"

He stormed into the room, pushing the door fully open.

"Bunny!"

His rage was cut short when he found the room vacant; No Easter bunny, or winter spirit to be found.

"North!" Tooth gasped as she caught up, and peered over his shoulder.

Sandy slid in around the large man, and observed the uneventful view with them.

"Now what are they up to? I separate them to cool off, and now they both vanish,"

"No, look," Tooth pointed to the ground, where a small red flower had seemingly grown out of the wood itself.

North crouched to inspect it with her, but as Sandy floated into the room, it was something else upon the ground that caught his attention, something that belonged there even less than the flower.

* * *

_AAANNNDDD BREAK!_

_Lol, well, please be honest, how was it?_

_Hmm...still not entirely sure if the title was right for this story, but heck...*shrugs*_

_Also, as I say in any of my fanfics...please excuse my terrible grammar and spelling :P_

_Hope you enjoyed it, hopefully the next chapter will be up in just a few days...fingers crossed._

_Thanks for reading, reviews are loved! (but don't feel obligated, lol, I'll be happy is others read this :D)_


	2. Fear Unveiled

_Yes! As I hoped, managed to get it out only a few days later! :D...meant to get it out a bit earlier today, but that didn't happen...oh well :P_

_I can't say how thrilled and happy I am at how much attention this fanfiction got in just the first day of release! Thankyou so much to everyone who read, reviewed, favoured and followed. I'm obssessed with ROTG at the moment, and so I wanted this story to do well._

_In saying that, I really hope this next chapter lives up to the first one. I have to admit that writing action scenes isn't a strong point of mine, so apologies if that didn't turn out great...lol, I'm not bad at imagining them, but putting it into words is a lot harder...^-^'...even more so, I reeeeaallly hope the characters stay in character...please let me know otherwise._

_Anyway, enough blabbering from me, please enjoy! :D_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters, only the plot of this fanfiction._

* * *

Jamie was playing with Sophie in the yard as the sun was beginning to set. They looked like they were having a lot of fun, tempting their observer even more to go join them.

Jack had to force himself not to call out to Jamie before the siblings were called inside. He liked to spend time with his first believer whenever the chance arose, it brightened his mood whatever it may be. Right now though, he couldn't trust himself around the child.

He sighed as he tapped his staff against the tree he sat in, watching frost curl around the trunk. North and Bunny were right; something was seriously wrong with him. He was exhausted to the point he'd almost fallen asleep mid-flight, and flying was something that ALWAYS pumped him fall of adrenaline.

He touched one of his sore eyes. He really just wasn't sleeping well…

…like he really had been having nightmares.

He shook his head, and let the wind pluck him from the branch. He glanced quickly back to Jamie's house as he flew above the tree line. Now alone with his thoughts, he found that to himself, he really couldn't deny what his friends had been saying…but he honestly couldn't remember having even a hint of a nightmare…heck, he couldn't remember having a dream; only laying down to sleep, and waking up feeling like he'd been racing against Bunny…

Jack's heart clenched a little as he thought of the Easter spirit. He touched the pocket on his jacket again, whilst he drifted back to the lake he called home.

"Damn rabbit…" He whispered, but it was out of pure frustration.

He landed on the frozen water, barely feeling the familiar tingle beneath his toes as it only froze more under his touch. Beautiful patterns swirled into life across the ice as he used his staff as a walking stick, moving towards the edge, where a small cliff face rose. The array of different shaped rocks created a bit of a hang out area for him. At the base, a couple even formed a few makeshift stairs that led to a small under cover place that he sometimes used as a bed. He didn't use it a lot, but it still provided a surprisingly comfortable resting place when he needed it.

Plus…and he would never admit it even to himself…beneath the shelter by the lake of his rebirth, he felt safer than he did in many other places.

"What's going on?" He whispered as he laid down, huddling back against the rocky wall.

He glanced to his staff, and found himself clutching it close. He had friends now, and even believers. In his heart, he knew he wasn't alone…not anymore.

But still…sometimes…

Bunnymunds face flashed through his mind, and he felt himself take a sharp gasp of fear…

Fear? What did he fear? It felt so strong, but he couldn't place the source.

He didn't fear Bunnymund…right…?

He breathed out quietly, hiding his face in his arms as his eyes refused to stay open any longer.

As the boy relaxed into sleep, he seemed as natural there as the snow that blanketed the rest of the area. He may have even remained unseen if one wasn't looking for him.

Golden eyes peered out from the shadows across the lake. As they drifted out into the open, the shadows followed behind, slowly forming into the body of the nightmare.

It took it's time to stalk its prey. It was eager, but not to wake him.

Jack was resting somewhat comfortably, but seemed to shiver as the nightmare came to stand over him, like he could feel the dark presence.

As the boy rolled over, it leant down, and breathed out over him.

The dark orb from earlier floated out of its mouth, and sunk into the boys head.

He twitched, his face contorting, before a loud cry broke free from Jack, and at the same time, a whistling sound broke through the air.

The nightmare barely reacted in time to avoid the boomerang that flew its way, distancing it from the now squirming boy.

"Glad my hunch was right and all, but from one freezing place to another?" Bunnymund growled as he leapt into view, his other boomerang raised and ready.

The nightmare snorted furiously, lowering its head as it stood between the guardians. The parts of its body not yet solidified into form suddenly broke off into clouds of dark sand, lining up to form a stronger defence.

"Ha, bring it on. The sooner I finish with you, the sooner I get to question the brat about this!"

He caught his other boomerang as it came hurling back to him, before he launched both once more. The nightmare sand was forced to scatter as the attack came from both sides, but the main target only gave a deep, threatening sound as it just moved backwards, unwilling to move too far from its victim. The clouds however, rushed towards the pooka, swarming him like bees, although their attacks felt more like sand paper than bee stings.

"Outta my way, I don't have time to play with small fry!" He jumped away and over to the land, and began jumping up high within the branches of a tree.

The sand followed close behind, but just as it looked like Bunny was going to be cornered at the top, he jumped away through the air, turning to throw an egg bomb straight at the sand.

Two of the clouds were caught in the blast, and left now useless dark sand to trickle down through the air to the ice below. Bunnymund landed safely upon the ice, but looked down as he though he heard a groan. The ice seemed pretty thick, but he had landed pretty hard…

"Not the best battle ground…" He muttered, before his attention was forced back to the remaining sand.

As it made its way towards him, one cloud was suddenly smashed apart as one of his boomerangs finally returned, its twin not far behind.

He bounded to the side to avoid the rest of the sand, and ended up skidding along the ice.

"OOF! Aw crikey…" He groaned as he landed on his back, "How does the larrikin do this so easily?"

He rolled aside as the sand tried to come down on him, before a loud cry forced his attention.

Jack shifted onto his side, and curled into himself; he was trembling.

"N-no…no…"

The whimper struck Bunny hard. He'd never heard…or ever thought he'd hear…Jack so terrified.

The nightmare also turned at the sound. As Aster burst apart another two clouds, it seemed to know it wasn't going to get the time it would've liked. It moved back towards Jack, eyes glowing greedily.

"Jack!" Bunnymund yelled as the sand took advantage of his distraction and crushed down on top of him.

The fidgeting boy was oblivious to anything happening around him, drawn too deep into his bad dream.

Bunny fought to pull himself free, gritting his teeth as the sand scrapped against him. His fur provided a fair amount of protection, but not completely.

As Jack rolled back onto his back, the nightmare came to hover over him once more. The young guardian's terror clearly grew as the creature got closer.

"No…" Bunny whispered as the creature opened its mouth.

Earlier at the North Pole, when the creature had drawn the orb from Jack last time, the boy had calmed and didn't remember having a nightmare, even though it was clear he had.

If it was to happen again, Jack would never understand; He'd keep running and denying help.

Bunny could tell, because he was stubborn enough to do exactly the same.

The nightmare began to breathe in deeply. This time Jack practically screamed in reaction, whilst the sand only pressed down harder on the other guardian.

"Bloody sand, it's worse than the frostbites blizzards…" Bunnymund growled as he pulled an arm free.

His ears pricked up sharply. His eyes drifted from the nightmare and Jack to the blanket of snow resting upon the top of the small shelter over them.

As the dark orb once more rose from Jack's forehead, Aster grabbed an egg bomb from his belt, and with more difficulty than he'd have liked, threw it straight at the cliff.

The nightmare was startled by the explosion for sure, but even more so by the shower of now painted snow that rained down upon it. It whinnied loudly, trying to shake it off, and seeing his chance, Bunny wrestled his other arm free, and drew something else from beneath his wrist cuff. He threw it down upon the ice, covering his head as multiple, tiny bursts of colour blasted over him and the sand. It did little more than colour and singe his fur, but the remaining sand finally disintegrated around him.

Not delaying, he jumped up and raced across the ice. Just as the nightmare was shaking free the last of the snow from its face, Bunnymund delivered a powerful kick to its side, sending it sprawling in a startled heap over the ice.

Aster looked back to Jack. The dark orb was still swirling above him, whilst Jack himself finally looked relaxed. It sent a wave of guilt and regret through him, but the Easter spirit knelt next to his friend.

"Forgive me frostbite, but you've gotta remember this time…"

Bunnymund placed his hand over the orb, not even sure this would work, and pushed down. The second he did, he gasped loudly as coldness washed over him, and colours played before his vision. They flickered between images of black and grey, to ones of bright colours, until finally settling on the first.

For the slightest second, Bunnymund tensed as he saw the back of the nightmare king himself; Pitch Black.

"_I'm not afraid of you…"_

"_Perhaps not. But you are afraid of something…"_

What the…? Was that Jack's voice he'd just heard talking to Pitch?

The image suddenly swirled back to the coloured one, and this one shocked Aster even more, as he found himself staring right at his own face.

He looked both furious and hurt,…and somehow, he found his own anger scaring him.

"_He has to go…"_

"_What?"_

"_We should never…have trusted you!"_

Bunnymund watched as his own fist raised in anger, ready to strike, even though it never did.

"This is…"

He remembered the moment all too well; Easter…now he understood…

…He was seeing and feeling what Jack had when Easter hadn't been protected.

Before he could tell anymore, the image changed again, this time almost blinding him as at first all he saw was white, before he found his vision turning swiftly, only to find Pitch Black standing just a few metres away. But the nightmare king wasn't attacking, in fact he didn't even appear to have the intention to do so. Bunny could see his mouth moving, but the words were too blurred for him to catch whatever he had said that made his guard lower, and the anger he felt…no…the anger Jack felt…melt away.

A loud whinny drew Bunnymund out of the strange visions, and he turned to see the Nightmare glaring him down, determined to take back its prize.

Trying to ignore the images flashing before him, Aster pushed hard, until he forced the dark orb back inside of Jack. As expected, the boy instantly tensed, and cried out quietly. He squirmed until he rolled just out from the undercover, his eyes twitching furiously.

"Just hang in there mate, I'll have you free in two shakes," Aster raised his boomerangs once more.

Despite wishing otherwise, he couldn't release Jack from the bad dream and risk the nightmare taking back its weapon and fleeing…in short? The nightmare would have to be destroyed first and foremost.

He bolted towards the creature, weapons raised. The nightmare charged, weaving around the boomerangs as they became airborne, and tried to tackle Aster. He dodged easily, but upon the slippery ice, he couldn't find his feet fast enough to avoid the second attack. He went sliding across the frozen water, winded from the blow.

The nightmare looked between the guardians, and decided again to try its luck with Jack.

It was desperate to gather the fear from him.

"Don't even think about it ya mongrel. I ain't finished with ya!"

Bunny forced himself up in time to catch his boomerang, and threw without a second thought.

The nightmare coiled back, avoiding the strike, which instead hit the rocky shelter. A tiny pile of snow that had managed to hold on earlier, now lost its grip and plummeted not onto the nightmare, but smack into Jack's face.

With a deep, startled gasp, the young guardian's eyes snapped open.

The opponents ceased their battle as the shaking boy looked around, terror still covering his face.

Slowly, his gaze drifted up, taking in the massive, dark form standing over him.

The creature itself didn't seem to know how to react, and Bunnymund felt he knew why; it was dependant on the boy being unaware of its existence, but now that Jack had seen it plain and clear, there was no denying what was going on.

The mare reared up with a furious sound, making Jack shift back in panic, before it took off across the ice.

"Oh no you don't!"

With just a few leaps, Bunny jumped to the top of the rocky shelter, and sprang through the air. He landed straight on the nightmares back as it tried to fly away.

"Bunny…?" Jack whispered as he sat up, though he had to use the rock wall for support.

Higher and higher the nightmare climbed, trying to shake free the powerful pooka. Aster kept an arm around the creature's neck, using his boomerang like a hook. Despite the serious situation, the proud spirit was smirking in somewhat enjoyment.

"Just a day at the rodeo hey mate?" He taunted.

The beast replied to his arrogance by flipping in the air. Bunny held on tight with a loud cheer of thrill. As the ride levelled out though, his smirk faded.

"Alright, fun's over."

He raised his weapon to strike it over the head, but the nightmare was quicker, and flipped again. With only one paw keeping grip, Aster barely managed to hold on as he was thrown from the creatures back.

"Crikey…" He muttered, his eyes widening at the drop below him.

It was a straight fall that he wasn't sure even he could survive. If nothing else he'd never be hiding eggs again.

The nightmare tried to shake off the boomerang still locked around its neck, and snapped at Bunny's arm.

He grunted and gritted his teeth when the beast's fangs sunk into his arm, willing himself not to let go…

…that is until something caught his eye.

"You tired of this game ya fowl mongrel? Well same here!"

He released his grip on the boomerang, and the motion made the nightmare lose its hold on him. Naturally, it seemed pleased to watch the spirit fall, until it suddenly heard something coming towards it.

It only had time to look up and realise its mistake as a bolt of blue shot through the air straight at it. It hit right on target, and frost spread over the nightmares whole body in seconds.

With its ability to move now taken away, Bunny threw one last egg bomb at the creature, and watched as the explosion smashed the dark sand over the entire area around the lake.

He would've savoured the satisfaction of success…if he wasn't rapidly falling toward the solid ice below.

He flailed and tried to adjust his position, hoping that maybe he could land in a way that at least wouldn't kill him, when something hooked around his arm.

Instinctively, he grabbed hold of it and held on with a death grip. He kept staring at the ice below, seeming to need to confirm that he was no longer falling, before he turned his gaze up.

"Jack?"

The guardian of fun floated lightly in the air above, his staff extended after he had grabbed hold of bunny.

"Heh, alright, I guess we can say we're even now, hey mate?" He joked out of awkwardness.

But as he looked back to his rival, instead of being met with a sarcastic reply, he found terror and confusion still alighting the boy's face. Tears were beginning to spill from his eyes, and his grip on the staff was shaky.

"Jack…Jack," Bunny forced himself not to panic at the thought of the staff slipping, "…Listen to me mate, it's over now; the nightmare's gone. It can't hurt you now."

But Jack didn't seem the slightest bit convinced…or like he'd even heard him. Bunny noticed his gaze didn't seem completely focused on the situation, as if his mind was elsewhere…

…as if, he didn't know if he was awake or asleep.

'_That dark energy…it should've disappeared with the nightmare…but…'_

He thought he could see within the wide, blue eyes, a faint, dark swirl fading in and out of sight.

Jack's body was far beyond exhausted. The bad dream was trying to pull him back into its clutches, and terrorise him more.

"Mate, look at 'regonna be fine, but you've gotta do whatIsay…just this time, and then you can go back to being the stubborn joker you love being."

Bunnymund added the last part in hopes of reaching the playful spark within Jack.

The young male however, suddenly looked up with a slight gasp, whilst Bunny looked confused as his pale skin gained a faint glow. He turned to see the most mysterious of the guardians peering out from behind the evening clouds, as the last of the sun light vanished over the hills.

"Man in moon…" Bunny whispered, before looking back to Jack.

The boy seemed almost mesmerised, like they'd all been when the man in the moon had first chosen them. The terror trickled forgotten out of his eyes, whilst from his forehead, the moonlight drew wisps of dark energy, and swallowed it up.

"That's it Jack, look at the moon, just keep looking at it," Bunny sighed, relieved but not totally relaxed, "I need to you lower to the ground, nice and slow."

He was amazed the flimsy looking staff had held his weight this long. He knew it held incredible force, but it certainly didn't look sturdy enough to take much physical damage.

Without turning his gaze, Jack began to descend, a little too fast at first, which made Bunny panic like when he'd had to ride in North's sleigh the first time. But his shock seemed to bring Jack's attention back to the present, and though still dazed looking, he slowed right down.

They descended below the tree line, and soon Bunny knew he would be able to let go and land safely. However, as he glanced back to Jack, he found the thought of releasing the staff too soon to be a bad idea, and not because of his own safety anymore.

His feet finally found solid ground. He looked up to Jack, waiting for the boy to land. But as he'd suspected, the younger guardian was hesitant to do so. The dark energy and the nightmare were gone now, but after seeing the glimpses he had, Aster knew that whatever Jack had seen went beyond a normal nightmare. A true fear of his had been pulled to the surface. Passed the tricks and fun loving, and passed the strong willed, stubborn and cocky attitude Jack probably even fooled himself with, something deep and cold had been uncovered.

Bunny gave a gentle, encouraging tug on the staff, and the boy carefully lowered himself to the snowy ground.

"Easy mate, easy…" Bunny muttered as the younger guardian's legs gave way under him, making him land flat on his butt.

It might have actually seemed cute if the situation was less serious.

"Cotton tail…what's been going on?" Jack whispered after a moment to catch his breath.

For once Bunnymund was glad to hear the playful nickname…to hear Jack.

Before he could answer though, something caught Jacks eye, making him take a sharp breath as he touched the pookas fur.

"Bunny…"

Aster looked down in confusion. Patches of his fur all over were lightly dotted in blood from the scraps the course sand had given him. They didn't look too serious, although the bite mark on his arm was probably a bit more concerning.

"Forget it, nothing to worry about," He assured the boy.

Seeing the guilt forming in Jack's eyes, he quickly turned the topic back to the matter at hand.

"It was a nightmare frostbite. It looks like it was using you as a source of energy by plaguing you with bad dreams."

Jack turned his gaze to him quickly, a flash of panic in the tired face.

"Don't worry, I don't think it had anything to do with Pitch. More likely it was just a rogue left behind after Pitch was defeated at Easter."

Jack looked down, holding his head. He still seemed reluctant to believe it, but out of confusion rather than rebellion now.

"If it was giving me nightmares, how come I don't remember them…? until now I mean…"

This time the question was genuine, not sarcastic. Bunny took his time, trying to think how to explain it.

"It was using some trick I haven't seen before, and I can understand if you don't believe me this time…"

"Huh, well at the moment…"

The two guardians met each other's gaze, and Bunny had to give a calm smirk. He knew Jack meant he was willing to trust what he told him.

"Strewth, this is going to sound like one of North's stories…but it was using this…dark ball of energy that it placed inside of you. It seemed only then that you had nightmares. It then removed and absorbed it, and appeared to grow stronger. I think removing it though, somehow erased your memory…this time though, you woke up before it took the orb back; the bad dream remained inside you."

"It grew stronger?"

"Back at the pole earlier, when it absorbed the energy, its shape changed. That thing must've absorbed your fear whilst inside you, and then the nightmare took that fear for itself. Jack, how long has this been going on?"

The boy looked away, shaking his head and messing up his hair as he tried to think. Bunny saw him bite his lip; telling this would mean admitting he'd been having trouble.

"It's…only really been bad for about…two weeks? But, maybe, I don't know but maybe…" He paused, biting his lip again as he glanced away, "…a month? Or a little longer…I barely noticed it at first, but I can't remember the last time I had a good rest."

Bunny was shocked to hear it had been that long. Part of him wanted to berate the boy for not coming to them about it. But he could still see a minor tremble racking the boy; this was not the time for aggression or harsh words.

"I doubt it was little more than a wisp of darkness to begin with, it couldn't even hold its form properly before it took your fear."

Jack nodded slowly, letting himself take it in.

"Thanks, and…sorry…for doubting you…"

Bunny gave a quiet chuckle as he sat upon the ground, for once not paying attention to the cold.

"I'd probably have doubted it myself if I hadn't seen it."

The rivals shared an awkward, but forgiving smirk, before falling silent. Bunnymund wanted to let the boy just rest now that the danger was gone, but he knew he couldn't do so yet…

"Listen Jack…" He scratched his ear with a front paw; a rare, but very clear sign he felt uncomfortable about the situation, "…I can take you back to the pole, and you can talk to North, or Tooth, or even Sandy if you want, but…I don't know…you need to talk about this…"

"Talk about this? You saying I need counselling Bunny?" Jack joked.

Though glad to hear that the troublemaker was recovering fast, Bunny shot him a warning look.

"I touched the orb at one point, and I saw flashes of whatever you saw…" Aster paused as the cheeky grin vanished, and flinched as he remembered seeing himself raise his fist at Jack, "…Those weren't just some bad dream the nightmare conjured up; they were memories…weren't they?"

The panic in Jack's eyes gave his answer. The young guardian looked around frantically, and Aster was barely quick enough to react.

"OI!" He grabbed the boys arm as he tried to move away.

"It doesn't matter!" Jack objected, trying to pull himself free.

Bunnymunds eyes hardened then; No indeed it wasn't the time to be harsh…but firm?

Jack gave a surprised cry as he was suddenly thrown back onto the ground, spraying snow around them. Before he could react, he found the hand holding his staff pinned in place, whilst a strong paw pushed down on his shoulder.

"Doesn't matter?" Aster frowned down at him, and Jack flinched as there was a real growl in his tone, "Take a good, hard look at your reflection in that giant ice cube you love so much!" He nodded slightly towards the lake, "Do you think you can just go back to ignoring things like they never happened? Think again, because no matter how much we may not like it, the plain and simple truth is this; No matter how well you hide your fear from us or even yourself, you can't hide it from Pitch Black, and the nightmares are HIS creation. What's to stop another from doing exactly the same thing?"

Jack went to speak, but knowingly, Aster just made his grip firmer.

"And don't go telling me there's none left. We thought they were all gone in the first place! If you let your fear grow inside, you're only feeding those creatures!"

Jack was staring up at him, eyes wide and unblinking.

Bunny knew he was just scaring the boy more. Again recalling the memory of Easter, his anger slipped away in a quiet sigh, and was replaced by concern.

"Frostbite, believe me when I say I don't like forcing anyone to talk about their personal business, but you've got to let us help you this time. I know I've given you no reason to trust me, so let me take you to the others…"

Aster felt a stab to his own pride, but moved to go stand.

A hand on his furry arm stopped him. He looked to Jack, who'd sat up almost the second he'd been released, and was giving the pooka a surprised, questioning look.

"You…think I don't…trust you?" The boy barely whispered.

The Easter spirits ears twitched.

"Well I couldn't exactly blame ya if you…"

He flinched as the grip on his arm tightened, but as he watched jack's head lower, he knew it wasn't in a bad way.

"Do…do you…?" Whatever confidence that had been returning, was gone again, "…Do you…trust _me_?"

Bunny raised an eyebrow as the question was turned around.

"Yeah, too right, of course I…"

"_We should never…have trusted you!"_

Aster stopped dead as his own words came rushing back to him. His ears lowered as Jack cautiously raised his head, just enough for the pooka to see his eyes.

Hope…fear…desperation…doubt…

Was that what this was about? After all these months of being at peace with one another, Jack was still afraid that Bunny didn't trust him?

Automatically, Aster wanted to answer that he did, but he realised he couldn't leave it just at that.

He didn't want to think he was taking advantage of the boy's weakened state, but once he'd rested, there was no way Jack would open up again like this.

If Aster didn't get answers now, no one would.

"What makes you think I wouldn't?"

He kept his voice calm and quiet. There was no disbelief or scoffing in the question; it was an honest offer for the boy to speak his mind.

Jack took his time, trying to find both his words and the courage to speak. At one point he even flinched like he was going to try and run again, but he only held on tighter to Bunny, like anchoring himself. He glanced back, his mouth opening as words tried to come, but failed.

"When I…" He forced himself to breath in and out deeply, "…when I took, Sophie home before Easter…I…I heard, something…a voice calling my name. I know now it was my sister, from before I became Jack Frost. I heard a memory of her from my teeth, so I followed it back and found Pitches lair, where he was keeping the tooth fairies and teeth…"

The grip on Bunnies arm suddenly became painful, and he could see anger starting to swallow the fear in the blue eyes.

"He taunted me with my memories…I allowed myself to be distracted too long…"

So that's how it had happened. Bunny, North and Tooth had wondered, but after defeating Pitch, they didn't have the heart to ask.

"After that…" And he meant after Easter was ruined, "…He found me at the South Pole. Pitch, he wanted me to…to…"

A dark rage took Jacks face then, definitely not a look Aster had seen on him.

"…What goes together better…than cold and dark?"

Bunny tensed. He couldn't…did he just…hear what he thought he had?

Was he understanding right? That Pitch had sought out Jack to try and get him on his side?

He wasn't sure if it was a totally unreal thought, or if it just sounded unbelievable in his own mind. He didn't want to presume such a thing, but what else would possibly cause such an angry flare in Jack's eyes?

"Those weren't your words…were they?" He whispered, and Jack shook his head.

Asters fist clenched as his thoughts were confirmed.

"Was he right thought? Because he sounded like it for a while…"

"Jack, you didn't…"

"I didn't say yes to him, but I…it was just for a moment…but I…"

And there it was; the fear had returned full force. What Jack felt right now, was no doubt what had attracted the nightmare to him.

Bunnymund understood without a verbal response, but it still needed to be said, even if Jack couldn't find the courage himself.

"You considered it," He finished for him.

The truth became as clear as the moonlight shining through the darkness. What Jack Frost feared more than anything was no longer being alone, nor was it putting his trust in others…

…no, it was allowing _them_ to trust _him_.

After so long of being alone, he'd been chosen as a guardian, even if he'd been reluctant to begin with. He'd found friends…a family even…and he'd risked it all for a selfish gain.

Things had worked out fine in the end, but the boy was terrified of making the same mistake, of hurting those he cared for, and losing what he had.

Jack wanted to turn away, he wanted to run. He gripped his hair tightly as his emotions were clearly wreaking havoc. Jack was never so weak at controlling his emotions, but this fear had been supressed way too long, and with Jack himself so worn out, it was little surprise that he couldn't take it any longer. A fresh batch of tears was starting to burst free, whilst a whimper followed close behind.

"I had that one job and I failed! I betrayed all of you…"

"Hey!" Bunny interrupted suddenly, his face hardening again, "Look at me Jack. Look at me!" He repeated with a bit more force when the boy didn't cooperate the first time, "You stuffed up, yeah, you messed up big time…"

Jack hunched away, and went to remove his hand. However, Aster suddenly held his arm exactly where it was.

"And you know what frostbite? EVERYONE blunders. Everyone does things they regret or wish they could change. Yeah, you did something selfish, and the end result wasn't pretty. Tell me though, do you think that's really betrayal?"

"I…but…you trusted me, and I…"

"Yeah…I trusted you…and you broke that trust by not following through with your word. Easter was lost and so were my believers. And do you happen to remember just what happened after that, frostbite?"

Jack flinched back as Bunny looked directly at him, and seemed too frightened to answer.

"…you convinced one young boy that I was real."

The young guardian gave a small sound of surprise at the softer tone. His body lost the tension a little as Bunnymund backed off just a bit.

"The last child left who was trying so hard to hold onto his belief in me, you convinced him that it was right to believe, without any thought of yourself in the process."

Part of Asters mind registered that he'd never heard Jack silent for this long. He let himself smile inside about it.

"Jack Frost, we put our trust in you that day, and you broke that trust because you let a selfish wish distract you, no point in arguing that much. But listen up; there's a difference between breaking a trust, and betraying it. Betraying us would've meant you'd have run off without a second thought, and left us and Jamie to face pitch, as long as you had what you wanted. You made the mistake, but you had no intention of hurting anyone, or of failing, and more importantly, you came back to fix your mistake."

Jack hadn't moved his gaze, but his tears were slowing a little, and suddenly he held his head and tumbled forward a bit. Bunny quickly steadied him. He could feel the boy was starting to relax…

…but something else was needed…a true confirmation.

"Frost, I forgive you for that. I forgave you the second your first believer said you'd made him believe in me. I know that…perhaps at the time…I thought you'd betrayed us, but I know now that's far from the truth, and I'm sorry for the way I reacted…"

He literally felt a mass of tension leave Jack, and surprisingly, his own shoulders suddenly felt lighter. He knew they had both remembered Bunnymund nearly hitting the younger guardian, but now their regret and fear was disappearing together.

"Jack Frost, I trust you as one of us…as a rightful guardian, and as our friend."

Jack turned his head up to look at him properly again, and Bunny gave a reassuring nod and a small, playful smirk.

If was as if he could feel the last of the fear leaving Jack. The boy sighed heavily, and startled the Easter spirit as he suddenly leant against him. Aster was definitely not sure how to react to that, but he watched as the boy moved his face through the soft fur, clearly comfortable exactly where he was, making the Pooka feel too guilty to move him.

He could feel his shoulders shaking gently, and knew he was still crying a bit. Of course it concerned him a little, but he reassured himself gently; Jack was still exhausted after all, it was only natural for a few stubborn tears to slip free.

"This sucks…can't even think of a way to answer…" Jack chuckled, sounding like himself, minus the tiredness.

"Ah, you'll think of something later…" Bunnymund chuckled in return, a slight challenge returning to his tone.

He realised Jack was still holding his arm, and…albeit awkwardly…found himself wrapping his arms around him, just enough to hold him steady. He felt his ears lower a little, as a very old scar stung.

"We all make mistakes frostbite."

Jack was still for a moment, probably expecting something else, but then he looked up in a way to show he knew that by we, Bunny meant himself.

"I once had a believer, but she was rather unique compared to others…"

"How come?" Jack mumbled, and for a moment, Bunny almost thought he was talking to a curious child.

He sometimes forgot that Jack hadn't been very old when he was reborn.

"If you go by appearance, she was perhaps…hmmm, well, not too much older than yourself."

Jack blinked, before looking away to think.

"Older than I was? They don't…usually hold on that long, do they?"

"Rarely, and in that time, it was basically unheard of, because in that period, she was already considered a young adult."

Bunny shook his head; He didn't need or want to get too far into the story. It was a long time ago, but like all scars, it still hurt if dwelled upon.

"In any case, I failed to protect her. I couldn't bare it for a long time, I was almost too worried to prepare Easter the next year. But you know what? Even if it took ages, I eventually forgave myself for it. I accepted that I'd done everything I could, and that it was never really in my control. Besides, in the end, things sort of worked out…"

"How?"

"Hm, that's not tonight's story," Bunny smirked again, shifting a bit.

"Ha, that was supposed to be a bedtime story? I think I got jipped."

Jack wondered for a second if it was wrong to make a joke at that point, but he heard Bunny just give a quiet humph, not in anger, more like an alternative to rolling his eyes.

"Just go to sleep ya larrikin,"

"You have no idea how good that sounds," Jack whispered, and leant right into him.

Yet Aster could still feel hesitation from the younger male; He'd probably be a bit nervous about falling asleep for a while now.

"Just rest…it's alright now," He whispered as comfortingly as he could manage.

He cared and all, but he wasn't the best at showing it, he had to admit.

Thankfully, Jack's body relaxed, and his grip finally loosened on the pookas arm, as his own slid down to rest on his stomach.

"Oh…"

The blue eyes burst back open, and Jack dug into his front pocket again. Bunny could only look confused, until he pulled something out into view.

It was an egg like the ones he'd found in the warren earlier, but this one looked a lot better than the rest. The mix of blue and white was done better, and the strange markings around it were completely clear this time; they were beautiful patterns of the same style as the frost Jack made. One or two tiny places still looked a bit messy, but as he was handed the egg, Bunny almost felt mesmerised by the beautiful creation.

"I was angry…forgot to return it…" Jack whispered.

Bunny looked to him in panic as his voice fell quiet, but the boy simply curled up against his warm fur, and within seconds, he was asleep.

It was a little weird to see the spirit of snow and frost seeking out warmth, although Bunny would have to put it down to the softness rather than the temperature.

He looked to the egg again, feeling guilt once more bite at him.

"_I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. I just came here to…"_

_That's_ why Jack had been in the warren the last time. Bunnymund had seen him reach into his pocket, but hadn't let him speak or act.

"Not much good at making the right example, am I?" He spoke quietly, half to Jack, half to himself.

Jack was a prankster, and would always find ways to get under Bunny's skin, nothing was every likely to change that. But he _was_ the guardian of fun, and after experiencing how it felt first hand, Aster couldn't imagine how Jack had felt not being believed in for as long as he had.

"_But none of them believe in ya, do they mate? You see, you're just invisible, it's like you don't even exist…"_

The guardian had been smug about getting that remark in when Jack had been chosen, because he knew those kind of quotes were exactly the way to push the boy's buttons.

He'd regretted those words all this time, yet he found his pride still got in the way of making right. When Jack had come back to help them at Easter, a silent forgiveness had been shared between them. Words weren't truly needed, no, but perhaps like Jack, Aster wanted to apologise because he knew how much he'd hurt one he now called a friend…

…No, that wasn't how he saw the boy, it was something else. He was still his rival, and now a friend, for sure, but he'd thought about it for a while now, and though he doubted he'd ever be able to say it out loud, even to himself, he knew the boy was something a bit more to him.

He smirked again; maybe that was something else that really didn't need to be spoken.

"I ain't much of a brotherly figure frostbite, but you sure know how to be a painful little brother…" He joked quietly, ruffling the white hair.

Jack stirred slightly, but went still again as the paw was removed from his head.

Yeah, he was painful, but still loveable.

Aster closed his eyes as he himself felt a bit exhausted from it all, but something tickled his senses then. He opened his eyes to see a shimmer of gold circling Jack in an almost lazy fashion. The boy shifted a bit, before a faint smile edged onto his face as the sand began to form into images.

Bunny watched as first he saw Jack himself, flying and goofing off as always, but then he saw himself, then North, Sandy, Tooth and even Baby Tooth. They all seemed to be rushing about, having a good time, evident from a quiet chuckle that left Jack.

It was them helping Tooth to collect the teeth of children. Since then, one of the ways they tried to stay more connected was through helping each other where possible. Once in a while they'd give the fairies a rest and help collect the teeth. It ALWAYS turned into a race, no matter how seriously it might start off, and whilst he'd laughed and mucked around as much as the rest of them, Bunnymund didn't realise just how much Jack must've enjoyed those times…heck…he'd written down Jacks playful attitude as rivalry with himself.

Leaving the boy to the privacy of his dream, Bunny turned his gaze to the dream's creator.

"Thanks mate, I recon he could use that right now."

Sandy floated over silently, making a concerned gesture at Jack.

"No worries mate, he's not hurt, just completely tuckered out. A descent rest and he'll be back up to no good,"

Sandy gave a chime like he was chuckling, but passed a knowing look to the pooka, who gave a smirk in return.

"Not a word ya Gumby…" He warned gently.

Sandy playfully indicated to himself, and then shrugged, like saying 'who, me?'

"Oh you make yourself clear enough…" Bunny laughed at the joke.

He caught Jack's staff as it slipped free of his fingers as the pooka stood up, careful not to disturb him.

"I suppose the big man sent you?"

Sandy just gave a casual shrug.

"Well I guess I won't get any peace until he blows up at me, he can't exactly tell the Larrikin off right now."

Bunny turned back towards Sandy and the lake, before looking around sceptically.

"Uh, recon you could carry him back to the pole mate? He's surprisingly light, but I'm not sure how easily I can move through the tunnels carrying him."

Sandy just floated a bit closer, and pulled out something. Bunny shrunk back in distaste as he saw one of North's snow globes.

"So North doesn't feel like waiting for me to get there huh?" He grumbled loudly, "You owe me big for this frostbite…"

Sandy rolled his eyes, and shook up the snow globe. He tossed it, and with a loud smash, the portal opened.

Making sure he had Jack, his staff, and even the lovely egg held securely, Bunny jumped on through, Sandy following close behind.

* * *

_Yay! Done!...phew! Lol, not that I mind, but I just don't seem to know how to write short chapters ^-^_

_Although speaking of which, I've realised that this story will actually be about four chapters rather than three (no problem, I like four better than three XD), though the next chapter will probably be a fair bit shorter than the others...not entirely sure yet, will have to see once it's done._

_I hope this chapter cleared anything up, and as always, sorry for any spelling and grammar mistakes._

_Thanks for reading! See you next chapter, which again I'm hoping will only take a few days! :D_


	3. Forgiveness Unspoken

_Sorry, I meant to have this out last night, but I let myself get distracted. I'll give I was a bit tired because it was a long day, but still..._

_Ok, This chapter is much shorter than the others, because originally it was intended to go on either the end of the last chapter, or the beginning of the next one, but I found that was making them much too long even for me (and I'm not known for writing short chapters after all :P)._

_I want to say thankyou to those anonymous readers who gave reviews. I always make it a priority to reply to all reviews I receive for my fanfics, but since I can't answer anonymous reviews, I'm going to say thankyou here! :D...plus another thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed, even if I could answer before XD_

_Anyway, just some sweet fluff that I hope you enjoy! :)_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters, only the plot of this fanfic._

* * *

A small chirping filled the warren, echoing everywhere despite the size of the place.

The sound was just another way the warren brought calmness to its guardian.

Bunnymund glanced with a faint smile to the direction of the sound. He'd found an injured bird one time, and had brought it back to the warren to heal. He wasn't sure exactly how the bird had ended up becoming a permanent resident, but it didn't seem to mind, and neither did he. It was so tiny in this huge place that sadly, he didn't see it very often, but it sang almost every day, and that was enough of a comfort. Dark as it sounded, he'd first found the bird quite a few years ago; it surprised him that it had lived this long. Perhaps the magic of the place had extended its life?

He watched as a couple of eggs trekked alongside one of the paint rivers, chuckling when one tumbled in. He hopped over and scooped it out, admiring the red and yellow mix now covering it.

"Now that's a beaut alright," He carefully lowered it, watching as it darted off after the rest.

With a content sigh, he stood and headed back towards the main area of the warren, choosing to take his time and walk rather than hop. He didn't get to come around to the beautiful outskirts of the warren as much as he would've liked, so it was always a shame when he had to focus on his work, most of which happened in the central area.

Oh well, such was the life of a guardian, and he had a very large magical garden to tend to.

He passed through a narrow passage in a large cliff face, deciding at the last second to turn down an alternate path, which led him to a small opening right in the middle of the rock wall. There grew a lovely cherry blossom tree, next to a small pool of water that trickled from a gap in the cliff, into a rocky basin. The water itself was translucent as most water was, but no matter how often he saw it, Bunnymund still loved the strange, gold shimmer this particular water gave.

A small group of eggs were roaming around the small area, and a couple were even climbing awkwardly up to the pool, and jumping in.

Unlike a good majority of the other water sources here, this one didn't paint the eggs, nor did it damage the artwork already covering them. As each of the eggs sprang out, they shone gold for a few seconds, before returning to their normal state.

This was one of Asters most private places. Eggs could last quite a long time within the sanctuary of the warren, but as Bunny had once reminded North, they were still perishable.

Not here though; This water kept the eggs fresh and new as long as they were dipped in it regularly. He used it only for eggs that truly held some meaning to him, such as the very first egg he'd ever painted.

He smiled as he picked that particular one up; a messy mix of green and yellow, showing even he'd been an amateur at one point.

Next he picked up one that was a mix of blue and purple; a gift from someone important long ago…

He glanced over all of them, frowning when one was missing from his count. His concern didn't last long though, as he soon spotted it huddling in the long grass.

"What's up? A little timid about joining your friends?"

He picked up the beautiful egg that Jack had given him the other day. As it padded over his palm, he had to wonder about the troublemaker.

It had already been two and a half days since the fight at the lake, and by his prides liking or not, he wondered how Jack was doing.

He'd travelled through the portal to find North waiting and ready to bellow at them. The large man had been quickly shushed though by both the guardians of hope and dreams, as Jack has stirred a little.

Figuring it was better to just get it over with, Bunny had handed Jack over to Tooth and Sandy to care for, so he and North could…speak…

…His ears were still ringing from that conversation…

He hadn't gone back and seen the boy before leaving the pole, and now his conscience was starting to berate him for it.

He tilted his paw, letting the egg slide off into the water. It bobbed along until it reached the edge, and padded out. It glowed momentarily like the others, before returning to normal as it scurried off. Aster himself took a pawful of water and splashed it over his face. It wasn't what made _him_ immortal or anything, but it was refreshing anyway.

He went to dip his paw back in, when his ear twitched. He turned swiftly, sniffing the air.

Something had invaded the tranquillity, and he thought he might know what.

He bounded back to the main area without detours this time. The egg golems stomped around anxiously as he raced past, perhaps already aware of the so called problem.

Finally he made it to the tunnels, and sat up straight upon the hill, one paw ready on a boomerang just in case…

…But it quickly dropped, as his hunch was proven correct.

He could see Jack standing a few metres into one of the tunnels still lined with ice. He looked like he was just staring at the wall, focused on something there.

"OI!"

Jack started quite loudly and…rather dramatically. His staff knocked the tunnel wall, and sent a burst of ice all the way back to the entrance.

The spirit of fun cried out in frustration, ruffling his hair, before turning to glare towards the entrance. He stormed out and quickly found Bunny.

"Thanks a lot cotton tail! Now I've gotta start that one again!"

"And just what exactly is it you're starting?" Bunny questioned sceptically as he quickly closed the distance between them.

"Ah, keep your ears on…" Jack waved him off as he moved back to the entrance of the cave.

Very carefully, he placed his staff against the tunnel wall, and closed his eyes. He breathed in and out deeply as his eyes furrowed a little.

Bunny was standing with his arms crossed as he watched him, but almost jumped as he watched a faint glow rise from where the staff touched the wall, whilst the ice around it slowly began to fade. A large gap of the rock under the ice was revealed, before Jack gasped and pulled back, taking a deep breath.

Bunnymund was honestly amazed, though tried not to show it too much.

"I'd been wondering if you could de-frost things as well…" He finally spoke, moving just close enough to admire the work.

"Yeah well, being Jack _Frost_, my task is usually creating ice and snow, not removing it. Even after three hundred years, I haven't had very much practice."  
"You manage to manipulate blizzards well enough."

"Different skill all together, one I get more than enough practice at."

Jack moved along and began defrosting the next part of the wall. Bunny waited until he took another pause before speaking.

"How long have you been at this?"

"Uuuh…" Jack halted, looking curious by the question himself.

Hadn't he been keeping track?

"…As long as it took me to get a couple of totems and that tunnel over there done?" He finally shrugged.

Aster glanced out to the tunnel he'd indicated to. He recalled that one hadn't been nearly as bad off as the others, but watching the rate at which it was taking Jack to remove the ice, even that one must've taken a couple of hours to finish. And now that he thought about it, he couldn't recall seeing any of the frozen totems yet today.

It was a relief, but also concerned Aster; knowing the stubborn winter spirit, he probably hadn't taken a break between tasks.

'_Wow, I must've been out on the outskirts longer than I thought,'_ He realised, knowing it was the only way he could've not caught on to Jack's presence sooner.

"Take five mate, You've still got plenty of time between now and Easter."

"Eh, I'm on a roll," Jack joked.

Bunnymund just rolled his eyes impatiently, and grabbed Jacks arm. The boy protested, but was pulled out of the tunnel, and forced to sit on a grass hill.

"You go exhausting yourself again, and it'll just take even longer," Aster stated as he also sat.

Jack purposely groaned like one his age would when being told off, and laid back in the grass. A sharp chirp made him sit right back up though, and he reached back into the hood on his jacket.

"Whoops, sorry Baby Tooth. You were so quiet, I forgot you were there," Jack chuckled apologetically as the tiny fairy shook her head.

"Heh, can't be away from your side, can she?"

"Ha-ha, according to Tooth, she was curled up beside me most of the time I slept."

"And how long was that?"

"About a day and a half…the other half being spent on explaining _"my side of the story"_ to North," He added a playful roll of the eyes.

Bunny had figured Jack would be interrogated by North the second he woke up. Santa was truly a good parental figure towards Jack; Caring, wise, very firm but fair…

…Bunny wasn't that type of role model in the boy's life, and in all honesty, that suited him just fine. He preferred the idea of having a troublesome younger brother…though those feelings would remain more private that his secret egg collection.

"So how long did he yell at ya for?"

Jack shared the cheeky chuckle.

"My head still hurts from it…"

"'suppose he's the one who sent you here; Your punishment?"

He was surprised when Jack looked slightly offended.

"Actually, this is me _avoiding _punishment," Jack stood back up, swinging his staff around before resting it against his shoulder, "Besides, I never planned on leaving things as they were."

He plucked a wandering egg from the ground, looking it over with only half interest.

"I would've fixed it already if you hadn't been so grumpy."

"Could say the same straight back to you, frostbite," Bunny frowned, standing as well.

For a moment the rivalry flared back up, frowns exchanged as temptation and consideration tried to will their actions into the usual routine; i.e. see who would draw first, and who'd get the first actual strike.

But their egos were no match for the memories of the last few days.

Jack breathed out heavily, stepping back first; North had been right, he didn't want to keep fighting with Bunny…

…argue with him? Of course…compete with him? He couldn't do without their rivalry!...Have an occasional tussle? Sure, why not…?

But fighting fist to fist, cruel word to cruel word? That was something he'd never wanted.

Bunny followed his actions, his ears lowering a bit shamefully.

"…sorry…" Jack mumbled honestly.

"Likewise…" Bunny replied.

Looking for a way to break the awkward silence, Bunny turned back and took the egg Jack was holding.

"How'd you do this?" He asked earnestly when he realised it was one of the ones Jack had decorated the other day.

"Huh? Oh, I'll show you."

Though surprised, Jack almost seemed eager to do so. Bunny followed as he flew off to one of the rivers.

"Oi! Steady on, it's not a snowball, you're not MEANT to break it!" He scolded when Jack grabbed a blank egg, and tossed it playfully into the river.

"Have some fun Bunny," Jack just laughed, making the rabbit sigh heavily again.

"Do you even know how to do anything else?" He grumbled, though not in a way intended to insult.

Jack picked the egg back out, laughing when it shook excess yellow paint off its shell.

"Ok, here we go…"

Jack went quiet as he twirled his hand. It was no surprise as he created a single, large snow flake. He seemed more focused on it than usual though, and the flake became a lot more solid without losing its shape. With careful guidance, he had it press firmly against the egg, before swiftly drawing it away.

Bunny was amazed to see a perfect snowflake imprint in the paint.

"See? You just have to use it like a stamp…though it's gotta be strong enough not to just break on impact," Jack almost…almost…sounded like an excited child showing their parent what they'd made.

"Hm, not bad, but the frost patterns…?"

"…are a lot harder to get right," Jack finished for him, pouting a little.

He brought the egg back up, and tipped it feather light with his staff. A twirl of frost circled the egg, and looked really amazing. Smiling a bit, Jack then defrosted it quickly, like he'd been doing in the caves, but frowned when he looked at the finished product.

"Aww…the frost melted too fast and ran through the paint again…" He grumbled, and held the egg out to Aster in disappointment.

Aster admitted it wasn't the best of the bunch, but it wasn't bad either. He was about to say so, when Jack stood and circled on the spot, looking around.

"Where's that one I gave you at the lake? That was the best one I did…"

"It's wandering around here somewhere," Bunny shrugged as he set the yellow egg down.

He kept his cool well, but there was no way he'd tell Jack where he'd really put it; way too awkward, he'd never hear the end of it!

"So what was your punishment anyway?"

"Hm?"

"You said you were avoiding punishment, what did North have planned?"

"Don't know; I took off as soon as I heard someone suggest cleaning the yeti's rest room…"

"Crikey…didn't think even North could be that cruel."

"Well he already had me clean out the reindeer stables."

"At this time of year? Rough luck mate."

"How do you know? You've done it before?"

"Not a chance, but I've seen what they look like right before Christmas."

Jack raised a curious eyebrow.

"What about you? I can't see North letting either of us off after the mess we made at the pole…"

"Other than a serious ear bashing, nothing so far. He'll probably make me clean up the paint once their work load gets back on schedule and I wouldn't just be under their feet. For now at least, I'm just grounded to the warren."

"But…he can't actually make _you _stay here, can he?"

"No, grounded more translates as keeping out of trouble, _or else_," He added the last part with a roll of his eyes that actually forced Jack to supress a chuckle, "It's fine. I never really leave the warren much at this time of year anyway."

"Too cold?"

"Too right."

The two shared a mutual silence for a while. The peace of the warren was calming even to the energetic winter spirit.

"I suppose I'll be right there getting rid of the ice as well. I had to get rid of some of it before I left because it was starting to melt and drip on the work benches."

"Hm, suppose that's fair enough," Bunny answered calmly.

Jack nodded in agreement.

"Oh well, back to work," He stretched and cracked his shoulders.

Hard work may have clashed with his fun loving personality, but he didn't do so well doing absolutely nothing either.

Bunnymund let him go, for a while just watching as he set back to defrosting the tunnels. He hated to admit it, but for all his mischief and attitude, the youngest of the guardians was a determined, hardworking little scoundrel.

He looked around at all the defrosting left to be done, and almost felt it a little too harsh…

An ear flickered as an idea came to him. He dug beneath the large cuff on his wrist, and pulled something out.

Jack breathed out heavily as he managed to uncover a patch about four square metres large, before he glanced over his shoulder. Bunnymund had entered the tunnel, and stood in front of the opposite wall.

"What're you doing?"

"Trying something out."

His curiosity peeked as he saw the pooka open his paw.

"What're those?" He inched closer.

"Something I tested out against that nightmare, which I now think might be safe enough to use in here."

Aster selected one of the colourful items, about to use it, when a second thought sprang to mind. It curled around in his head for a while, pros and cons weighing against each other, before a devilish smirk crossed his face.

"You did make a bloody mess of this place frostbite, recon it'll take ya awhile to get it cleaned up."

"Yeah, I'm aware, thanks for the news flash cotton tail," Jack rolled his eyes, and decided to go back to his side of the tunnel.

"I guess North won't have to worry about any trouble from you before Christmas now,"

"Well I'll try and fit him in on my schedule somewhere, but between making frost on the surface, and getting rid of frost down here, I can't make any promises…" Jack grumbled, tapping the base of his staff on the ground impatiently.

"Hm, not the holiday season you expected hey," Aster persisted, glancing over his shoulder.

He knew the winter spirit was getting annoyed at him, and he had to admire that he was keeping his cool this well.

"Perhaps a little motivation is in order,"

Jack gave an annoyed grunt, and turned around.

"Look cotton tail, if you want me to feel motivated about my work…"

He halted as he found the pooka directly facing him, arms crossed smugly.

"You'd have to wait awhile…" Bunny stated calmly, watching one of the little creations move along his arm, "…but how'd you like something to look forward to?"

He turned his gaze up to the boy, his smirk widening.

"…something, fun?"

Jack's annoyance was replaced by curiosity, and his infamous spark of mischief.

"Moi?" He mocked surprise.

His own smirk quickly rose to match Bunnymunds.

* * *

_Not sure if I should've put Bunnymunds special pool in the disclaimer section or not, but...*shrugs*_

_The next chapter will be the regular length, but it will also be the last chapter... :'(_

_Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and as before, the next chapter will hopefully be just a few days away! :D_

_Thanks for reading!_


	4. Bond Undenied

_And here it is, the final chapter (awww :(, I really enjoyed writing this), in just one week, this story was started, and finished :D...meant to get this out a bit earlier today, but oh well, still got it out today._

_I want to thank absolutely everyone who has read, reviewed, favoured and followed this story. I'd hoped it would do well, but I didn't expect nearly so many views. Thankyou so much everyone, it really means a lot to me :)_

_It's funny, originally this chapter didn't exist, but I'm glad it came to me as I was writing._

_Ok, I try always to get details as correct as possible...buuut...my geography could use some work, so apologies if by chance any details are wrong :P_

_Very well, as always, sorry for bad grammar and spelling, but please enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of it's characters. The plot for this fanfic, and the gifts in this chapter are my idea though, no pinchy please ^-^_

* * *

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

Norths booming toast was followed by a chorus of cheers from the yetis, and jingling of the elf's bells.

Each of the other four guardians echoed him, raising their cups of eggnog.

"Thanks North, this is definitely the best Christmas in a long time," Tooth spoke, Sandy giving a nod of agreement.

"Absolutely! But then we haven't had everyone together in long time," North replied.

"So you guys don't do this every year?" Jack questioned, barely finishing his mouthful of eggnog first.

"Not as much as we used to," Tooth admitted as she fluttered around, "It used to be one of the only times we were certain to get together, but now it's been…almost a decade I think…"

"Yes, but that is all in past now. Today we have ALL guardians present," North stated proudly.

The others all smiled, and followed his gaze to the opening in the roof above, where the man in the moon shone through, his light toasting along with them.

"Oh, and speaking of present…" North added with a sudden excitement that Jack thought he recalled from the first time they'd tried to initiate him as a guardian.

The head of the North Pole turned and threw a couple of orders at a group of elves. They scurried off quickly, a couple knocking into each other. They made a show of falling over and trying to scramble up, but in the end a couple of their friends came to the rescue…

…by rolling them along the ground like barrels!

Jack heard a chirping by his ear, and looked to see Baby Tooth holding out a ginger bread cookie in the shape of a tooth, with a pink ribbon around it.

"Aww, Baby Tooth. Thanks," He took it gladly, looking over the small gift.

"Its low sugar," Tooth added with a playful wink, "Just to protect those pretty white sparklers of yours."

Jack had to laugh, and put the gift in his front pocket, just as the elves returned.

They carried gifts over their heads, whilst some of the yetis looked ready to grab the presents away, terrified they'd be dropped.

The guardians were each handed a gift; Sandys was in gold wrapping, Tooths in purple, Jack blue, and Bunny green.

The group exchanged smiles, before opening their presents. Inside they all found the same thing, but none were in the slightest bit disappointed.

It was a snow globe, slightly bigger than a normal one, but still smaller than the portal style ones North used. They also had a gold chain attached on one end, so they could be worn.

Inside the beautiful glass, a light trickle of snow flittered about on its own. Jack gave it a playful shake, but gasped as something began to form when he did so.

It was a large snow flake. It twirled and flew around the globe as freely as Jack himself did through the air.

There was a surprised gasp from Tooth, and he looked to see within her globe, tiny purple fairies sparkling like amethysts, whilst white specks like diamonds glittered around them, just like teeth.

She chuckled and look to him. Jack smiled back and shook his own globe again, and watched the fairies replaced the snow flake.

He looked around at the others. Inside Bunny's globe was a rabbit bounding around scattered, coloured mini eggs. Whilst in Sandy's was a swirl of gold sand constantly changing shape, from dolphins, to fish, to dinosaurs etc. And finally, as Jack looked to North, the jolly man smiled, holding his own globe, within which a reindeer led sleigh flew over rooftops.

Jack shook his own globe until he saw each of his friend's images, but paused as he shook it once more, and found instead the glowing full moon.

"North, they're stunning," Tooth finally broke the silence.

She fluttered over to her friend and placed a kiss on his cheek, whilst Baby Tooth hugged the other side of his face, earning a light chuckle.

Sandy and Bunny both stepped up to shake his hand, before North finally turned to their youngest member.

"Jack?"

He wasn't asking to be thanked or anything, but the boy had fallen silent; he was inviting him to speak.

Jack was unsure what to say, but his eyes showed everything.

Aster watched him, and allowed a calm smile upon his own face; He knew how much the gift…a symbol of his place in their family…must've meant to Jack.

The boy shook his head, still unable to find his words. Then like to startle them all, he darted forward and hugged North.

The giant of a man was as surprised as the rest of them, but he just hugged the boy in return, patting him on the back.

"Thanks…" Jack mumbled as he pulled away, smiling gratefully.

North just nodded in return. Jack chuckled as he shook the globe until it returned to a snow flake, and hung it around his neck. He walked back past his friends, and as he met Bunnys eyes, he gave a small nod, which the pooka calmly returned.

"Didn't you say you had a surprise for the rest of us frostbite?" He spoke as Jack picked his cup back up.

Jack made a sound like to say _'oh yeah' _as he quickly wiped his mouth, and set the cup down.

"Can you guys meet us in a little while near the base of Belukha mountain in the Altai range? We gotta pick up some other guests first," He grabbed his staff.

"We?" North raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you're gonna give me a lift right cotton tail?"

"Do I have a choice?" Bunny rolled his eyes.

"Sure. To the sleigh then!" Jack mimicked North.

Bunnymund was _very_ quick to catch his hood and yank him back, making the others laugh.

"Just so you know, EVERYONE is invited!" Jack laughed, indicating to the yetis and elves.

"Come on ya larrikin," Bunny grumbled as Jack signalled for Baby Tooth to come along, "Oh, hey North?"

"Hm?" North looked to him, and suddenly a wide smirk appeared on the pookas face.

"Don't say you weren't warned mate."

Before anyone could get a word in, he opened a new tunnel, and Jack gave a yelp as he and Baby Tooth were pulled along.

"Warned? About what?" Tooth questioned, looking to her friend.

"Bunny using riddles? What is going…?" North began as he stood tall.

He was distracted as he felt a lump beneath his jacket. He reached into the inside pocket, and pulled out a small, colourful drawstring bag. As North pulled the string, he almost dropped the parcel, as out crawled tiny, candy sized eggs.

"How adorable!" Tooth couldn't help herself as they padded up the man's arm.

She chuckled as one jumped off his shoulder, and she carefully caught it. Sandy watches as they looked for somewhere to go, and kindly made a sand slide for them to roll down.

The elves chased them as they scurried across the ground, whilst the yetis struggled to admire them without crushing them.

"Did Jack slip these to you?"

"Classic," North chuckled as a couple got tangled in his beard.

Sandy chimed up then. He made an image of the little eggs, then switched to a rabbit and gave a shrug.

"That's true…eggs are more likely from Bunny…" Tooth spoke quietly.

"A gift from Bunny…?" North shared their confusion.

He looked over the tiny eggs thoughtfully.

"Don't say you weren't war…" He muttered Bunnymunds words, before his eyes widened.

"Uh oh…"

The next second, it was as if someone had let off an entire batch of party poppers.

Tooth screamed, Sandy chimed, and North hollered as the dozens of eggs suddenly popped loudly all over them.

The yetis grunted in shock and tumbled over, nearly squashing the elves, who were scrambling and lost within the multiple clouds of paint.

Being absolutely covered in them, North eventually stumbled over, just as they were beginning to finish.

The group coughed and spluttered, trying to see through the thick clouds.

Sandy shook his head, and glanced over himself, noticing the rainbow of colours painting his usually fully golden form.

He and Tooth looked to each other, before suddenly laughing.

"Wow, red actually kind of suits you Sandy," Tooth joked.

The paint on her wasn't quite so clear since her feathers were already so vibrant, but the patches of green and yellow over her face looked like some odd sort of mask.

They turned to North as he groaned loudly, and helped him sit up.

"BUNNY!" The man hollered when he got hold of himself.

He looked to the other guardians as they both struggled not to laugh, and even the yetis were trying to hide smiles.

His eyes trailed down to his beard, which had changed from white to a mix of blue and pink. He pulled it forward a bit to see it better, and the rest lost it, breaking out into laughter.

"This is for _that time_, isn't it?" Tooth winked at North.

"Using Jack as an accomplice, very tricky…" North chuckled, raising an eyebrow.

He made the others jump a bit as he joined in the laughter, and got to his feet.

"Oh those two are right back on naughty list!"

"Bunny's been on the naughty list?" Tooth joined in the joke.

"Alright! Everyone go clean up!"

The yetis and elves were quick to obey, whilst North turned to one of them.

"Have everyone assemble at the Belukha mountain in twenty minutes."

The yeti ran off to pass on the order. North on the other hand, turned to Tooth and Sandy, and cleared his throat deliberately.

"_Now _everyone, to the sleigh!"

* * *

"We're so on the naughty list for this!" Jack laughed as he slid through the tunnel after Bunnymund.

"Yeah, well that's not exactly something new for you is it?" Bunnymund chuckled back, focused on where he was going.

"I really wish we could've stayed to watch. I wanted to see these things in action," Jack pulled out a tiny red candy egg from his pocket.

"Hold onto that too long and you will. They're a bit temperamental about anyone but me touching them."

Hearing the smirk he couldn't see, Jack looked to the egg, before quickly flinging it over his shoulder. Not two seconds after, he heard a bang, and looked over to see a cloud of red.

He didn't have time to comment though as Bunnymund suddenly called _'Here's our stop'_. He barely managed to redirect himself as the tunnel suddenly shot upwards. As sunlight poured down upon them where the surface opened up above, Bunny moved to the side as Jack flew up and out. He wobbled a bit until he readjusted to the familiar feeling of being in the air. After a quick circle over the tree tops, he landed lightly as Aster hopped out.

"Tell me cotton tail, why were _you _so eager to go along with this prank? Scratch that, why did you suggest it?"

"You regret that bit of fun?" Bunny smirked as they walked through the forest.

"No, but you can't blame me for being curious right? And since I was your so called _partner in crime_…" Jack walked backwards as he spoke, his staff held over both shoulders.

"Call it payback. North played a prank on me one year, I warned him he wouldn't get away with it."

"Wow…you _really_ know how to hold a grudge," Jack raised an eyebrow, and turned to walk properly, "Should I still be watching _my_ back after that whole blizzard thing?"

"What do you think?"

Jack frowned a bit and shifted his staff to one shoulder.

"You know I do recall that I apologised at the time for that…"

"Why?"

Jack stopped at the question. Bunnymund had also paused, and looked at him questioningly; it seemed strange, considering the topic usually aroused annoyance from the pooka.

"Why did you apologise? You'd been around more than long enough by then to know when Easter Sunday was. _Were _you just causing mischief?"

Surprise took Jacks face.

Though perhaps a little sceptical, Bunnys voice wasn't assuming.

Was he actually willing to listen?

At the time Jack had wanted nothing more than to explain it had been an accident, but after the incident had quickly escalated to their first big row, he'd been too stubborn…and sort of afraid…to try again.

After all this time, the chance to tell his side had finally appeared, and he felt too awkward to talk.

"Because it was an accident…" He finally blurted out.

"You're gonna have to do better than that," Aster answered plainly.

Jack sent him a frown. Aster was clearly serious, but the winter spirit hadn't missed a spark of humour the other guardian had failed to keep out of his voice.

Aster had indeed decided to give Jack the chance to speak, but the last kind of response he expected was the slightest ting of red upon the boy's cheeks.

"Well looks like this is going to be interesting."

"I'm not going to say anything if you're just gonna laugh about it!" Jack spat defensively.

"But you'll say something if I don't?"

Jack flinched back as he fell into the verbal trap, and turned away. Bunnymund hadn't missed his face turning a darker shade, and forced himself to back down.

"Alright, I won't laugh, whatever it is."

The guardian of fun shifted a bit, but glanced back. Bunnymund kept his composure patient, and though Jack refused to look at him properly, he forced himself to speak.

"A few…a few years before then…sixty-five I think…winter ran a bit late. It would've cleared up in time for Easter of course, but the weather was still cool enough that I decided to throw out one more snow day on the Saturday…"

Jack paused, glancing to Bunnymund, who gave a slight nod; he vaguely recalled that.

"…anyway, most of it melted away like I'd planned it to, it was only a small snow day after all. But come Easter Sunday, there were still patches of snow all over the place. Not enough to hinder the egg hunts or anything, but enough to stand out…"

Bunny's nose twitched; Now he definitely remembered that year. The egg hunts themselves may not have been affected, but it had been fairly painful hiding the eggs around Burgess and the surrounding areas.

"I just…" Jack began, but clamped his mouth shut.

His face grew redder still, looking odd on the pale skin. Aster would've been amused…if he had any idea just why the boy looked so embarrassed.

"I just thought that all the coloured eggs looked really nice against the white snow."

Bunny felt himself freeze, more in surprise than shock.

"I don't know why, I just liked it," Jack grumbled, shifting around out of awkwardness, "So the next couple of years I hoped that the same thing would happen. But winter kept finishing on time, early in fact; I couldn't push my luck when the weather was already too warm, even if I was tempted. Then in sixty-eight, the cold weather lasted again, not quite as long though. I don't know, I guess I got too excited or something, but where I meant to call up just a small snow storm, it turned into a full blizzard. Maybe I panicked because the weather was starting to get warm and I didn't think enough snow would last until Sunday morning…"

"So let me get this straight," Bunny interrupted, and stepped forward, "You almost ruined Easter that year, just because you were trying to make it look nicer?"

Jack stepped back at his approach.

"…I know you probably hated the snow in sixty five to; bet it was cold on your paws," He muttered, only half a chuckle in his voice.

Bunny certainly wouldn't deny that; his paws had been numb by the end of it. But then…whilst he definitely preferred the eggs amongst the lush green spring grass, when he thought about it, the eggs hadn't looked back amongst the snow either.

He frowned and stepped back away. Jack glanced up, curious by the Pookas silence.

"Sheila, come here,"

Jack tilted his head, but when Baby Tooth chirped, he understood. Not sure what the Pooka was thinking, he indicated for her to go. The little fairy looked to him nervously, but flew over to Aster.

The second she reached him though, Jack flinched as Bunny stopped, and pulled one of his boomerangs out.

He didn't get a word in before Bunny turned and threw it. Instinctively, Jack ducked out of the way, but the weapon wasn't aimed at him. It flew over his head to strike the snow covered branches in the tree above, hard enough to send the snow crashing straight down on top of Jack. The boy yelped as he was knocked flat on his face, and almost fully disappeared under the pile of white.

After a few moments, he pushed himself up, and shook a large mass of snow from his hair. He glared straight at Aster, who just smirked, spinning his boomerang around in his hand.

"Alright Frostbite, I'll forgive ya," Bunny spoke with a cocky nod, and put his weapon away.

Jack got to his feet, and brushed himself off as the pooka continued walking. Baby Tooth quickly returned to him, chirping wildly. He raised a hand to calm her.

"Using my own element against me? You know you're gonna pay for that later,"

"Oh, how so?" Bunny just continued to smirk.

"You'll see. I'm not spoiling the surprise," Jack returned the smirk as the little fairy snuggled back into his collar.

"Huh, whatever you say. Come on, you wanted to get there before the others right?"

"Yeah, but don't worry, it looks like our other guests are ready to go."

Jack gave a nod towards a gap through the trees where the forest ended. Bunnymund followed his gaze, and his smirk changed to a calm smile.

* * *

"Are you sure they're coming Jamie?"

"Yeah, don't worry. Jack said he had a big surprise for everyone, and that we should wait by the edge of the forest."

"We can't be too long. My mum isn't happy about me being away from the family on Christmas day."

"And why did you insist on warm clothes? I know it's cold here, but you said we were going somewhere else…"

Jamie tried to answer his friend's questions…really not sure of much himself…but was distracted when he felt Sophie pulling at his hand, and heard her giggling excitedly.

"Sophie, what is it?"

He looked around, and let out a happy gasp.

Hopping through the snow was a little frost rabbit like the one Jack had used to help him believe in the Easter bunny. It looked at them, shook it's cotton tail, and ran off into the forest.

The children laughed and took after it, following it around the trees, and tumbling over through the thick snow.

Just as they reached a small space between the trees, the rabbit suddenly turned and jumped at Jamie. The boy raised his arms to catch it, but it burst into snow before it reached him.

The children were still excited, but now looked around, lost about where to go.

Sophie made a startled sound, and looked to her ankle, where a little red egg was nudging her. She instantly laughed and picked it up, whilst green and red eggs began appearing from the bushes, going straight up to the children. Some had very distinct snowflake or frost designs over them.

Jamie smiled and crouched as Sophie showed him the one in her hands, when something struck him on the back of the head.

Caught off guard maybe, but he wasn't worried by the familiar feeling; he knew a snowball when he felt it. He turned back, already smiling before he found Jack crouching on a low branch, smiling right back.

"Merry Christmas everyone!" The guardian of fun cheered, jumping back down.

They all echoed him, and Jamie was hugging Jack within seconds.

"Merry Christmas Jack," He repeated quieter as he was hugged back, "You haven't been around in ages!"

"Sorry for that, guardian work and all. Had to make sure everyone could have a snowball fight today," Jack pulled back after a moment, patting him on the shoulder.

"Everyone here?"

They turned as Bunnymund walked out into view.

"Yeah, that's everyone," Jack answered as Sophie ran past.

Bunny couldn't help the affectionate smile that only the little ankle biter ever seemed capable of bringing out of him. He crouched to greet her, chuckling as she hugged his face.

Jack gave a wily smirk, and leant towards the others.

"Come on guys, you're not gonna leave the Easter bunny out of the hugs are ya?"

Bunny's ears shot up, but before he could do anything, the other children all jumped on him, knocking him over.

He groaned, slightly winded. But still managed to frown at Jack, who was just laughing his head off.

"This is your idea of payback?"

"No, this is a freebie. You'll know payback when it comes for ya," Jack grinned.

Bunnymund wanted to groan loudly, but instead he gave into the hug…albeit a bit awkwardly.

"Alright you lot, time to move, we're on a schedule. Everyone well rugged up? It's even colder where we're going," He spoke as he gently pushed them off and stood up.

The children nodded eagerly, and so he carefully helped Sophie onto his back. Jack took Jamie's hand, and the others one by one joined hands.

"Express for Belukha Mountain leaving in three…two…"

'_Tap Tap'_

The children screamed in both surprise and delight as the ground opened up beneath them.

* * *

In a quiet corner of the Altai mountains, an unfamiliar sound broke the tranquillity, as one by one, five squealing, laughing children seemed to fly out of the ground itself, and landed safely in the soft snow. They continued to laugh and roll around as Jack flew out with Jamie in hand.

"That was so cool!" The boy cheered as they landed.

"It is pretty fun, ha?" Jack agreed honestly.

"What is with you and North liking cold places?" Bunny grumbled loudly as he bounded out last, Sophie tight in hand.

It looked like he was both trying to keep her warm, and use her as a hot water bottle himself.

"Uh, hello? Jack _Frost_? The tropics sound nice and all, but I'm not sure that would work out so well."

"Not asking you to pick bloody Hawaii mate, just somewhere I can walk without losing feeling in my feet."

"Well that kind of place wouldn't work for my surprise."

"Is it far Frost? We can't keep them out here too long."

Jack nodded in agreement, but indicated over Bunnys shoulder.

The group followed his gaze to the area behind them, and even the pookas mouth fell open in shock.

The mountain side and flatter areas of the small corner were decorated with ice sculptures of all different shapes and sizes. There were long, twisting slides; some small enough for the children, some big enough for a yeti to fit on comfortably. There were tunnels that wove in all directions, places to climb…all sorts of obstacle course items lay ready to be put to use. Right smack in the middle of it all was an open area, with small walls of ice and mounts of snow dotted around, whilst piles upon piles of snowballs lay ready and waiting.

Bunny admired the scene, lowering Sophie as she squirmed eagerly, wanting to go explore with the others. As the pooka stood tall to watch them play, he became aware of Jack standing next to him, and glanced around, noticing an expectant grin that the boy didn't try to hide in the least.

"Waiting for something frostbite?"

Jack shrugged casually, but kept grinning. Aster knew exactly what he was after; it made him want to roll his eyes, and laugh at the same time.

"Not too shabby mate," He finally gave the boy what he wanted.

He meant it to; no wonder Jack and been almost unreachable the last few days. It had only taken three days to get the warren completely ice free, and then North had had them help clean up the remaining mess they'd made at the pole.

After that, Jack had simply resumed his normal task of bringing blizzards and snow days when and where he could. Bunnymund no longer banned him from the warren, although in doing so, he discovered the real punishment North had planned for him;

The guardian of wonder had first begun lending Jack snow globes so that he could get in and out of places fast if ever he needed to. He'd been allowed to carry two at once before, but after all the fuss, North had cut that to just one. Bunny reasoned it was so that if Jack intentionally went and got himself in trouble, he couldn't quite so easily get himself out.

It was a good dose of discipline for the fun loving guardian, but it also meant Aster had to return him to the surface himself if he ever visited the warren.

He had to give that that was well played on North's part. At first Jack had visited every two to three days, and would spend hours practicing decorating the eggs. He hadn't necessarily been any trouble, but as nice as it was to see Jack finding interest in his art style, it had been understandably annoying for Bunnymund at first. However, when the week of Christmas came, he'd gotten worried when Jack only showed up once, and barely for an hour, only to finalise their little practical joke on North.

He glanced back to Jack, who had resumed watching the children, but he could see a true spark of happiness in the boy's eyes. He was really happy to know his surprise had worked, even for his rival.

The pooka found his paw touching a hidden pocket on his belt strap, and he quickly glanced away.

Should he…?

"Hey guys, don't use up _all_ the snowballs before the others get here, ok?" Jack laughed as the children played.

"Hey,"

"Hm?"

Jack looked around as Bunny spoke, only to have something small thrown at him. He stumbled a bit to catch it, but opened his hand to see a strange amulet.

Baby Tooth flew out from the collar of his hoodie to see it. It was a beautiful emerald colour, and in the shape of half an egg. A yellow stone sat in the middle, whilst a simple brown cord looped around from one end.

"Bunny? What is this?" He asked curiously, though maybe a little unsure how to react.

"Put it on your staff and tap the ground," The pooka answered without looking at him.

Jack and Baby Tooth glanced to each other, but did as he said. Jack carefully tied it around the hook part of his staff, and with another quick glance to Aster, tapped the base upon the ground.

The little yellow gem within the amulet glowed, before Jack jumped back as the ground before him opened. He stared down the tunnel in amazement, before turning to Bunny, speechless.

"It'll take you directly to the warren from anywhere, and once there, it'll allow you to use any of the tunnels to get back to the surface," Bunnymund explained, finally looking back to him.

"You mean…you're saying that I can…?" Jack began, too shocked to finish his sentence.

Bunnymund was giving him permission to enter the warren whenever he wanted?

"Yeah, I am," Bunny answered with a sigh, looking like he might be blushing under his fur, "And I'm also telling you that I won't hesitate to take it straight back if you come knocking just to annoy me. As soon as New Year is over, I have to start focusing on Easter, I won't have time to play chauffeur to you," He warned, his face gaining its usual firmness.

Jack chuckled, but he was grinning at the same time, and whilst Aster had expected him to like it, he wasn't sure just how to react to the pure joy on Jacks face.

Did it mean that much to him? It was just meant to make things easier if he ever came to the warren again…heck…the pooka knew he was practically giving Jack a free ticket just to annoy him!

But as the boy removed the amulet from his staff and carefully stowed it within his pocket, Aster couldn't help but feel that the boy would do all he could NOT to abuse this new trust.

"It's ok Baby Tooth, just don't want to accidently end up using it every time I go to make more snow," Jack chuckled when the little fair chirped at him curiously.

Before removing his hand, he took the cookie that she'd given him, and bit into it, smiling when she did.

Just as he swallowed, he stumbled a bit when a snowball struck him. He turned to see Bunnymund smirking at him.

"Oi! Aren't we going to wait for the others?" He smirked back.

"And give you the chance to get the first strike? You didn't really think I'd allow that now did ya?" Bunny answered, tossing another snowball lightly in his paw.

Jack grinned playfully at Baby Tooth.

"Well, looks like it's game on!"

Bunnymund threw his second snowball, before taking off across the field. Jack easily dodged this time, and grabbed one of the premade snowballs as he took after his rival.

They chased each other back and forward across the field, throwing both snowballs and challenging remarks. They almost forgot about the children, who often paused in their own games to watch them. Eventually though, Jack took shelter behind one of the ice shields with Jamie, grinning as they high fived. Sophie went running over to join Bunnymund behind a large snow pile, where he made a snow ball and handed it to her. She'd grown a bit since Easter, and though she still just threw it at an invisible target, he could see she was getting stronger.

"Whoa!" He barely dodged a snowball as it skimmed over his ears.

"That the best you can do cotton tail?" Jack's voice rang across the field.

Bunny already had another snowball ready in his paws, and threw it hard. As it struck the icy shield, he had to admit to himself that Jack was definitely the better player at this game, but that didn't mean he'd let him win.

As Jack prepared his next snow ball, a sound caught his attention, and he looked to the sky.

"Ha! Hey Bunny, head's up!"

"You can't get me where I am Frost!"

"No, heads up as in; Time to hit the deck!"

Bunnymund raised an eyebrow, before he caught something in the sky.

"Aww crikey," He chuckled, ducking back behind the snow mount.

Up in the sky, Norths sleigh burst through a portal, bringing with it the rest of the guardians.

"Bunny! Jack! You two have a lot of cleaning to do when we get back!" North called from the air.

As he said that, a number of portals opened around the field, through which a large amount of yetis spilled out, followed by a couple of elves.

"Oook…probably better give me a wide berth for a while buddy," Jack chuckled to Jamie.

He gave him a pat on the shoulder again, before zooming off across the field. Half the yetis went after him, whilst the other half located Bunny.

"Crikey…" Bunny backed away.

He grabbed Sophie and put her with the other kids.

"Keep an eye on her for me, ok?" He said quickly, before rushing off.

The yetis didn't stand a chance of catching him with speed, but they were locked onto him like hound dogs; he wouldn't be able to forget they were there for even a moment.

"Just look at this place. Did Jack really do all this himself?" Tooth admired the bird's eye view.

Sandy was making images of everything he saw. The usually quieter guardian was almost bouncing with excitement.

"What do you say North?" Tooth spoke with a playful smile as she watched Jack and Bunny race around, "Should we give them a few minutes?"

"Heh, why not? The yetis have earned their fun," North answered equally as playful.

Jack almost hit his head as he dived into one of the tunnels he'd made. He crawled back from the entrance to avoid notice by his pursuers. With his speed and agility, the yetis had lost track of him, but they wouldn't miss the hiding holes forever.

He bit back a gasp as someone knocked into him from behind.

"Well fancy meeting you here. What're you doing?" He hissed to Bunny, who'd come in from the other end of the tunnel.

"Oh gee, I don't know…a rabbit taking cover in a tunnel…don't see that every day…" Bunny muttered sarcastically, "What about you?"

"Dah, it's my tunnel."

They both hushed quickly as a yeti lumbered past on Bunny's side.

"Not that I'm not having a great time and all, buuut…would you say no to a temporary truce?"

"Just until we're not the prime target…?"

"_Just_ until we're not the prime target…" Jack repeated with a nod.

"You know that won't happen until North gets a good shot at us both."

"Yeah, but at the least we can turn the yetis attention away, and I think I know how."

"I'm listening…"

"Wanna help us out Baby Tooth?"

Jack lowered his voice as they both leaned closer.

* * *

"Where did they go?" North thought aloud as he had the reindeers land on a wide ledge upon the mountain side.

Sandy himself made a pair of binoculars as he searched the field. Just as he was scanning one of the larger piles of snow, a blur shot out from either side; one blue, the other grey.

He chimed and pointed excitedly, whilst on the field, Jack and Bunny raced around the yetis.

"All yours little sheila," Bunny spoke as he neared a couple of yetis preparing snowballs.

As he raced past them, Baby Tooth flew out of hiding in his fur, and buzzed around one of the giant creatures, who was holding a boulder sized snowball over his head.

He grunted in frustration as she flew around his face, and released one of his hands to try and swat her away.

But with all his fumbling, he couldn't balance the mass of snow, which tumbled out of his hold, straight on top of his friend.

It seemed to take a moment for him to realise, but as Baby Tooth flew off, he looked to his friend, who had turned to scowl at him.

With only time to give a _'huh?' _sort of sound, the first yeti quickly found a regular sized snowball shoved in his face. He grunted loudly in a whiny voice, before grabbing a ready-made snowball and throwing it at his friend. The other yeti was quick to duck, but the shot flew straight into the back of another further away.

Across the field, Jack fought to suppress a laugh as he watched the yetis turn on each other, the Easter bunny all but forgotten. He glanced around from where he was hiding, and noticed a couple more yetis had divided one of the snowball stacks evenly between themselves.

With a playful smirk, he moved over to the piles as silently as snow falling from the sky, and raised his staff.

With a bit of focus, he carefully, but swiftly moved one pile of snowballs next to the other pile, leaving one yeti without any. Seconds before they looked again, he dashed away back into hiding, almost giving himself away with a laugh.

As the yeti reached back for a snowball, he found his hand searched through thin air, and looked to see his pile vanished. However, his friend's was much bigger than before.

He complained loudly, whilst his friend just argued back, clearly oblivious to the change and certain they were rightfully his.

From up above, the guardians watched as the yetis quickly forgot about their original targets, and began a free for all with each other. The children were quick to join in the game, and even the elves were soon helping to prepare more snowballs, and even throwing back when they got hit.

"Jack Frost, guardian of fun, and definitely prince of mischief," Tooth laughed.

Sandy made an image of Bunnymund as he nodded.

"You're right, it seems kind of strange for Bunny, but it's also nice to see him so…loose," Tooth agreed.

North gave a couple of nods like admitting they were right, but they could see his fingers twitching in anticipation.

"True, but either way…TIMES UP!" He suddenly announced.

With patience not much stronger than Bunnymunds, He laughed loudly and began jumping down the side of the mountain, ready to join in. Tooth and Sandy laughed and took flight over the field.

Jack meanwhile, was sitting on a small rock, laughing as he watched the fun going on around him. There was a noise beside him, and he looked to Bunnymund, who'd skidded to a stop in the snow, and threw a snowball right at an elf, hitting it square in the back.

"Nice shot," Jack nodded, "Think it's safe to call off this truce now?"

"I reckon so," Bunny smirked back.

"In that case…"

Aster flinched as snow hit him right on top of his head. He looked up to see Baby tooth giggling, before she quickly fluttered away. Before he could react, he was struck by a snowball from the side, this time from Jamie.

The boy laughed and cheered, and Jack gave him the thumbs up.

Though a smirk beaconed to come out, Bunnymund pushed it aside to give a frown instead.

"Very funny frostbite, but maybe it's not the Yetis you should've been worried about…"

Jack gave a loud, playful _'uh oh'_, before he raced away once more with Aster on his tail.

After getting a strike in on Sandy, North gave a proud cheer, before looking around as Jack and Bunny raced past. Jack flew up one of the slops on the mountain side, but stopped when he glanced over his shoulder and realised he wasn't being followed.

Watching from below, the guardian of wonder could only smirk and keep down a laugh as Bunnymund…having used his speed to go up and around Jack…landed behind his opponent and struck him with a snowball.

As if they were playing a game of tag, this time Aster took off with a grinning Jack now on his tail instead.

'_Just like brothers…' _North thought fondly.

He glanced around, just in time for a snowball to hit him in the face.

"Ho ho, I saw that Tooth…" He chuckled as the tooth fairy just faked innocence at him.

Back up high, Bunnymund skidded to a stop as the path ended, and left him peering cautiously over the edge, where a long, yeti sized slide of ice had been created.

"Heh, not for me…" He muttered, ready to turn back.

"Oh no?"

He'd momentarily forgotten about Jack, but the winter spirit saw his chance, and knocked into Bunny from behind.

Aster cried out in shock as he was send sliding unceremoniously, whilst jack just slid down on his feet behind him.

The Easter bunny landed sprawled in a cushioning pile of snow, whilst Jack landed lightly next to him.

"Gah…that's just asking for a pounding," Bunny growled, a bit winded and not amused in the least.

"No, _that's _payback," Jack smirked down at him.

Bunnymund grunted in annoyance, looking away.

He should've known.

"Come on cotton tail, admit you'd miss me if I wasn't around to cause you trouble," Jack just shrugged, and in a surprising move, held out his hand, "I…don't think we should sit here too long…" He added when Aster hesitated.

He nodded back towards the mountain. After seeing that short adrenaline ride, a couple of the yetis were eagerly climbing up to have a turn, oblivious to the two guardians still sitting in the landing zone.

Realising he might end up a Pooka pancake, Bunny quickly took the offered hand and was pulled up.

They darted aside as the first Yeti came sliding down, roaring in excitement as it flew off into the snow, almost crushing poor Sandy as he unwittingly drifted by.

Like they'd found a temporary safe zone, they watched their friends playing together, having a great time. Bunny smiled as he watched Sophie hiding with Jamie's friend Pippa, and when she actually managed to hit an elf with a snowball, he couldn't help a sense of pride.

He glanced momentarily to Jack, but found himself doing a double take as he saw a spark of sadness in the boy's eyes.

"Frostbite?" He muttered before he could stop himself.

Jack was snapped out of his thoughts, and quickly shook his head, vanishing that spark.

"Was just thinking…" He quickly spoke in a casual tone…too casual, "It's a shame I can't leave this place as it is, even if I could stop it from eventually melting…"

As soon as he'd said it, Bunnymund found himself completely agreeing.

No matter how remote this place was, there was no way the giant ice playing field would go unnoticed for long.

Casual as he acted, Jack was clearly proud of his work, and Aster had to feel for him; any of them would be disappointed to have to ruin their own creation.

"I thought about making it at the pole, but I didn't want anyone to see it before now. Don't worry, I'll get rid of it as soon as we're done," Jack assured him quickly as he ducked to scoop up another snow ball.

Though he was careful not to let it show, Bunnymund was honestly impressed… and actually kind of proud…that the playful, immature guardian was ready to make the right decision, even if he didn't like it.

"Ah, buck up frostbite, we can still enjoy it the rest of the day at least."

Jack gave him a surprised look, and Bunny quickly turned away, realising he'd admitted to enjoying the place so far; a bit open when talking to his rival, at least in his opinion.

Jack gave a playful smirk, and bounced the snowball in his hand.

"Wanna make a bet?"

Aster's ear twitched a bit, and curiosity getting the better of him, he soon looked around.

"First to get a hit on North wins?" Jack continued playfully.

Bunnymunds competitive side quickly rose to smirk back.

"Too easy mate. Make it a hit on North, Tooth and Sandy."

"How about on each of the yetis to?"

"Don't get stupid, I can't even tell them apart, let alone how many there are."

"Hmm…then, how about one yeti, and one elf?"

"Sounds fair. So what are you after?"

"If I win, I get to push you down the slide again,"

Aster shivered at the thought of it.

"Not gonna happen."

"It's that or tell me what that prank North pulled on you was."

"You think I'd really tell you that?"

"I can always find out from North. I bet he'd love to tell,"

Jack grinned devilishly as Aster struggled to keep his cool.

"Fine, the slide then. But if you lose, you have to clean up my half of the mess at the pole as well as your own."

"No way…I'll do half of yours…"

"Eighty per cent?"

"Sixty."

"seventy."

"Done."

With a last challenging smirk at each other, the guardians took off to complete their bet. As Bunny quickly got his first two strikes…i.e. the yeti and elf…he paused momentarily to watch as Jack got Tooth, and took off as the laughing fairy chased him.

He thought of Jacks earlier joke. He would NEVER admit to missing the boy if he wasn't around to bug him…

…but that didn't mean it wasn't true.

Like it or not, the youngest guardian was still like a little brother to him;

'_Painful but loveable…' _He smirked and shook his head, _'…painful but loveable.'_

'_WHAM!'_

"OOF! Oh you're in for it now North!"

* * *

_Thanks once again to everyone for reading._

_I'm hoping one day to write a sequel to this, which will likely be a lot longer, and if I do, then Pitch Black will definately make an appearance ;P However, that won't be for a LONG time. I have a couple of other fanfics still in process, and whilst I don't regret in the slightest putting them on hold for this one, it's time for me to get back to them._

_Non the less, this was soooo much fun to write! thanks for the support everyone. My first non one-shot fanfic to be finished! XD_

_cookies and plushies for everyone! XD_


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